Truth and Lies
by Joisan
Summary: KotOR 1: Ensign Andra Gelan has it all figured out... or so she thinks until a simple mission gets a lot more complicated than she expected.
1. Chapter 1

The moment Andra Gelan's ship docked at the orbiting shipyards of Kuat, she grabbed her duffel and took off running. The _Endar Spire_ was scheduled to leave in 2 hours and her superiors would give her no end of grief if she wasn't there to board with the rest of the crew. As she sprinted through the hallways of the space station, she spotted one of the uniformed Republic security personnel and skidded to a halt just long enough to gasp out,

"What docking bay is the Endar Spire in?"

"37," the young man answered, and Andra spared him just the briefest of nods by way of thanks before checking the signs and racing off in the proper direction. When she arrived, she saw the enlisted crew had assembled in ranks and the second rank was already marching crisply up the docking ramp. She slipped silently into the end of the fourth rank and tried to put herself to rights before anyone noticed, but it was already too late. An angry-looking lieutenant came to stand in front of her.

"What's your name, soldier?" he demanded.

"Ensign Andra Gelan, sir," she answered, snapping to attention and giving him her best salute.

"Did your wrist chrono break, Ensign Gelan?"

Andra swallowed nervously. "No, sir. My shuttle only just arrived, sir."

"So you thought it wasn't necessary to plan to arrive on time?"

"Sir, I only received my assignment five days ago. I got here as quickly as I could given that I was on Commenor at the time, sir," she explained through clenched teeth. _I was on leave when the call came, and once I received my orders, I dropped everything and took the next shuttle off-world like a good little soldier and he thinks I was being irresponsible! I don't believe this!_

"She's right, Lieutenant," a new voice interrupted. The Ensign straightened even more, if such a thing was possible. The newcomer wore black pants and a casual flight jacket in a burnt orange color, but on that jacket was pinned the rank insignia of a Commander in the Republic Fleet. Even the Lieutenant snapped to attention. "She was a last-minute addition to the crew," the commander continued. He added something else in a lower voice, but by then the fourth rank was on the move and Ensign Gelan was too far away to distinguish any of the words over the noise of half a dozen pairs of boots marching.

The more details Andra picked up regarding the Endar Spire's mission, the more uneasy she became. They were headed to Tatooine, a nowhere world in the Outer Rim, ostensibly to garrison it against possible Sith incursion. There were just two problems with that in Andra's view: first, there was hardly anything on the planet that would make the Sith want to invade it. Second, there was the little fact that the Endar Spire had among its crew half a dozen Jedi, led by none other than Padawan Bastila Shan, whose skill in battle meditation was widely acknowledged as the only reason the Republic hadn't lost this war yet. In fact, she was nominally in charge of the mission, though the commander who had come to Andra's defense on her first day aboard the Endar Spire still oversaw most the day-to-day management of the ship. It was on Bastila's initiative that the ship was heading for Tatooine, which made the whole thing just that much more suspicious to Andra. But as a simple soldier, there was little she could do except take things as they came.


	2. Chapter 2

_Dammit! Interdictor Cruiser!_ Carth Onasi swore as the blue swirl of hyperspace outside the _Endar Spire _faded to streaks of white light, then the usual pinpricks of stars about three days sooner than it should have. _I told Bastila it was a bad idea to pass through Sith-occupied space on our way to Tatooine but she just wouldn't listen. _As a career pilot and fleet officer, Carth had to grudgingly admire the masterful tactics behind the Sith ambush. They had the rest of the fleet perfectly positioned to surround the ship once it was back in realspace. In fact, it was a plan almost worthy of… _aha!_ A slow smile spread across the commander's face as he saw the ID on the Interdictor. The_ Leviathan_, flagship of Admiral Saul Karath_. Well, well… we meet again. _This wasn't the time to settle their score, though, and Carth knew it. Saul had him outnumbered and outgunned. Within a minute, the _Spire_'s shields were down and her engines destroyed, leaving her plummeting helplessly toward the planet below. He flipped open the shipwide comm.

"Ground troops, prepare to resist a boarding attempt. Everyone else, evacuate ship!"

The chances that anyone who made it onto an escape pod would actually survive long enough to return to the Republic were pretty low. If the escape pods weren't shot down by the Sith ships, then eluding notice long enough to get off-world would be a difficult task. Still, a small chance was better than none at all.

"Carth Onasi to Bastila Shan," he called over a private comlink channel.

"Padawan Bastila is currently using her battle meditation to aid in the battle against the Sith," an unfamiliar male Jedi voice replied.

"Did you not hear me just now? This ship is falling apart! Get Bastila to the escape pods; I don't care if you have to drag her there with the Force. I'll meet you and make sure she gets off safely."

"But without her battle meditation…"

"Her battle meditation won't save her or anyone else left on this ship when it hits atmosphere. Now, are you coming or not?"

"We are."

The Sith boarding party had not yet advanced as far as the starboard section of the ship, so the trip to the escape pods was uneventful. Two of the five escape pods had already launched and as he watched, the third went rocketing away. Bastila and one of the other Jedi arrived just ahead of a squad of Sith troopers, and Carth wasted no time in motioning them toward the fourth as he sealed the door.

"Wait," Bastila called before he could hit the release on their pod. "Make sure you save the last."

"Why? Anyone who hasn't escaped yet is already dead."

"Not so. Andra Gelan and Trask Ulgo are still alive."

"Awfully convenient," the commander muttered under his breath. To the Jedi, he said, "If you're right, I'll give them a chance to get here, but we don't have much time left. They'll have to hurry." Before Bastila could argue any more, he tapped the button that sent her pod shooting into space.

To his everlasting shock, the security cameras proved Bastila's information correct. The two soldiers had left a wide swath of destruction behind them, but even as Carth watched, a dark Jedi appeared in the doorway in front of them. Trask shouted something to the older soldier and charged directly at the Sith. To her credit, Andra didn't spend more than a couple milliseconds staring slack-jawed before putting as much distance as she could between herself and that dark Jedi.

The Republic pilot continued to watch as the only other surviving crew member aboard the Endar Spire calmly and efficiently mowed down a pair of Sith troopers with her blaster rifle. _Nice shooting_ he noted approvingly. _No wonder she's made it this far. _She was close now… close enough that he could hear the sounds of shots from just a couple rooms over. Then he remembered the half-dozen or more Sith who had taken up position in the next room and immediately reached for his comlink.

"Ensign Gelan, can you hear me? This is Carth Onasi."

"I hear you, Commander Onasi," she responded calmly.

"There's a whole squad of Sith troopers on the other side of that door. You won't stand a chance if you just charge in shooting."

She didn't swear aloud, but Carth distinctly heard several swear words in the silence before she finally asked, "Any suggestions?"

"There should be a security terminal somewhere in the room you're in. You might be able to use it to reactivate some of the ship's automated defenses. There's also a broken-down security droid in that room. If you're any good with mechanical things, you could try to reactivate it."

"Commander, I'm no good with computer slicing _or_ mechanical work," she whispered. "Do you have any sort of security codes that will get me access to the computer system?"

"Here, enter this," he answered, rattling off a string of letters, numbers, and symbols. "That should get you in."

A few seconds later, he saw the automated defense turrets pop up from their place concealed in the roof and open fire on the troopers. Just as quickly as they appeared, they receded back into the floor, leaving a swath of armor-clad bodies in their wake. He logged himself out of the security console he had been using to track her progress just in time to see Andra come bursting through the door.

He couldn't help noticing that she was beautiful, even covered in sweat and grime and with a blaster wound on her arm. Her skin had a slight olive tone that made a nice contrast with her jet-black hair and her light brown eyes had an appealingly exotic slant to them. But this was not the time to start thinking along _those_ lines. "You made it!" he exclaimed in relief. "Now let's get out of here before it's too late!" She followed him into the escape pod without further argument and once they had strapped in, he hit the control to launch the pod.

During his time with the Republic, Carth had been inside an escape pod on more than one occasion, and he had never found the experience to be a pleasant one. The pods were primarily intended to stay in space, and while they were technically capable of atmospheric entry, their limited propulsion systems meant it was more of a controlled crash than a proper landing. As the final two survivors of the _Endar Spire _streaked with terrifying speed toward the upper levels of the city-planet of Taris, they felt rather than saw the ship explode behind them.

"Damn you, Saul," Carth swore quietly. Andra craned her neck to give him a puzzled look… then screamed in pain as they smashed into a raised walkway and the impact slammed her against the side of the pod. He, having managed to brace himself better, had escaped serious injury, but the fact that she wasn't moving worried him more than a little. He struggled out of his restraints and shook her, hoping against hope for some sort of response.

"Ensign Gelan! Andra! Can you hear me? Shavit!" he muttered under his breath when she remained just as still and silent as before. Only the steady rise and fall of her chest and the definite pulse he could feel in her wrist indicated she was still alive. He worked quickly to unfasten her restraints and drag her from the pod, pausing to retrieve the emergency supply kit from under the seat. Luckily for him, it was the middle of the local night and the area was currently deserted, but that wouldn't last for long once someone reported the disturbance to the Sith. There would be all sorts of logistical problems to figure out later, but for now the first order of business was to get the hell away from the crash site.

From what he could tell, they had crashed in one of the nicer parts of the city. A blessing in some respects, but it brought with it heightened Sith vigilance. In the beginning he simply wandered, seeking to get as far away from the escape pod as possible while trying to make his trail hard to follow should the Sith decide to come looking. Then fatigue began to become a factor and he knew he would have to find somewhere safe for them to stay before too much longer. _A hotel might work in a pinch until she's back on her feet, but I'd rather not have to explain why she's unconscious and has a blaster graze on her left arm. Or if I found somewhere out of sight, I could hope she'll wake up soon. Too bad she doesn't have any spare clothes… that uniform is going to be rather conspicuous._ Looking around, he saw that the area he was in now was mostly non-human, unlike the area they had crashed, which was almost exclusively human_. This must be a lower-class neighborhood. Hopefully it means we'll attract less attention_. On a hunch, he followed a blue-skinned Duros through the door of what looked to be an apartment building. Most of the apartments showed clear signs of occupancy but one door hissed open when he approached, revealing an obviously unoccupied apartment. _Yes! This will be perfect. We can rest here and gather supplies while we figure out a way to get off this_


	3. Chapter 3

a/n: I really should take this opportunity to thank my beta, Sialater, and Jillyfae, who also offered some input on this chapter and the last one. Now back to your regularly scheduled chapter:

The apartment was clean, and it appeared the previous owners had left most, if not all, of their belongings behind. _Must have died, and recently too_ Carth observed with a frown, but he wasn't going to complain about his good fortune. With a sigh of relief, he set Andra down on the bed. In the light of the apartment, he was able to get his first good, leisurely look at his companion. She had the lean, well-muscled physique of a soldier and as he began to tear off the left sleeve of her uniform to apply a kolto pack, he suddenly found himself uncomfortably aware of the gentle curves of her hips and the rhythmic rise and fall of her breasts. _Less ogling and more treating of injuries_ he chided himself. With a practiced twist of his hands, he returned her dislocated right shoulder to its proper position and applied another kolto pack from the emergency supplies. _That's the last of the injuries I can see. Now to wait and let the kolto packs do their job._

When she still hadn't woken up by the next morning, he found himself facing a dilemma. _We need supplies… but what if she wakes up while I'm out?_ Finally, he decided that leaving her a note would have to do.

_Ensign-_

_I went to get us some supplies. Hopefully I'll be back before you wake up but if I'm not, you should know that we're on Taris and the planet is under Sith occupation. So be wary and don't leave the apartment unless you absolutely have to. We can talk more when I return._

_-Carth_

Two hours later, he was walking back to the apartment with an armload of bags, running down his mental checklist of all the things he had needed to get. _Food suitable for humans, some civilian clothes for both of us, and medical supplies. And all without attracting Sith attention too. _That last bit had been a particular relief. He kept half-expecting one of the Sith patrols he passed on the street to stop him for questioning, or worse yet, to encounter Saul himself walking down the street. He didn't truly relax until he was safely back in the room and saw that Andra was also still safe in the bed where he had left her. With that settled, he went to sort through his purchases for the day.

The next day, Andra still hadn't moved and Carth was getting more worried by the hour. _Take her to a doctor and risk discovery or continue to wait and hope she wakes up on her own? We won't escape notice forever_. The decision was taken out of his hands, though, when he heard her cry out while he was eating lunch in the kitchen. He ran into the bedroom to see that the sheets were a tangled mess and she was thrashing about wildly, even hitting her hand against the headboard of the bed.

"Andra!" he cried, grabbing her arm before she could accidentally hit him with it and shaking her gently. "Wake up." At last she did, and Carth could have sworn those light brown eyes were the most beautiful sight in the galaxy. She rubbed her eyes groggily and pushed herself into a sitting position. He smiled in relief.

"Good to finally see you up, instead of thrashing about in your sleep. I was beginning to wonder if I ever would. You must have been having a hell of a nightmare."

She grimaced. "You could say that. Where are we and what happened? The last thing I remember is crashing in the escape pod."

He nodded. "Good, you remember. You were knocked unconscious in the crash… luckily I wasn't seriously hurt and was able to drag you away from the pod before the Sith started swarming over it. That's when I stumbled onto this abandoned apartment."

Her eyes widened slightly. "Sith? I guess I owe you my life, then. Thanks, Commander."

"Please, call me Carth. This is no time to stand on military formality."

"If you wish… Carth. And thank you again."

"You don't have to thank me. I've never abandoned anyone on a mission and I'm not about to start now. Besides," he added, "We're not out of this yet."

"What do you mean?" she asked, frowning up at him.

"I picked up a little information while out shopping for supplies. Taris is under Sith control; they've declared martial law and imposed a planetwide quarantine. No ships can land or take off. But I've been in worse spots," he reassured her, seeing the nervous look on her face. She arched an eyebrow skeptically.

"Really? I'd love to hear what you consider worse than two Republic soldiers on a Sith-occupied planet with a Sith fleet overhead imposing a quarantine."

He chuckled. "Maybe another time. Honestly, though, it's not that bad. I doubt the Sith are specifically looking for us anymore, if they even were to start with; we're not that important. If we're careful, we'll be able to move without attracting attention- a luxury Bastila won't have. And we may need her help if we're going to escape Taris. She'll certainly need ours with the entire Sith fleet looking for her."

Andra rolled her eyes and sighed. "Right, and her battle meditation is the only thing holding the Republic together right now. I know. Alright, where do we start?"

"There are reports of a couple escape pods crashing down into the undercity. That's probably the best place to start. It's a dangerous place, though; we don't want to go down there unprepared. It won't do Bastila- or us- any good if we go and get ourselves killed."

"Well, the sooner we start looking for her, the sooner we find her. Let's go!"

Carth held up a hand. "Whoa, hold on there. When was the last time you ate? Or drank? You're not going anywhere just yet." The younger soldier tried to stand and found herself swaying dangerously. Her companion chuckled. "Thought so. Come on, I'll show you what we've got in the way of food, and then you can see what I got you to wear besides that uniform."

An hour later, they were ready to step out the door, both dressed in civilian clothes that would allow them to blend in among the Tarisian populace but Carth had his dual blaster pistols holstered at his belt and Andra had abandoned her blaster rifle in favor of a vibroblade tucked inconspicuously under the folds of her shirt.

"Now, remember," Carth admonished, "we need to keep a low profile or we'll end up lying dead in a Tarisian gutter… or worse. I've heard some stories about the Dark Jedi interrogation techniques I'd rather not confirm firsthand. They say the Force can do terrible things to a mind. It can wipe away your memories and destroy your very identity." His companion shuddered eloquently in response. "I figure we should be okay as long as we don't do anything stupid. I mean, most of their attention is going to be focused on looking for Bastila, not a couple of grunts like us," he reasoned by way of reassurance. "You ready for this, soldier?" She nodded firmly. "Alright, then. Let's move out!"

They stepped out the door of their apartment right into the middle of a Sith raid.

"Alright, you alien scum. Up against the wall!" the Sith officer barked.

"There was a patrol here just yesterday and they found nothing!" a Bith protested in his own language. "Why do you Sith keep bothering us?" The officer aimed his pistol right at the alien's chest and fired twice. The Bith screamed and dropped to the ground in a pool of blood. "Anyone else care to make any smart-mouth remarks? I didn't think so. Now get up against that wall before I lose my temper." At that point, he turned to the side and caught sight of the two humans unfortunate enough to stumble into the confrontation. "What's this? Humans hiding out with the aliens? They must be Republic fugitives! Attack!" Andra drew her vibroblade and Carth's blasters were in his hands in a flash. He dodged a shot from one of the battle droids and retaliated with his own more accurate shots. Andra stepped in and delivered a vicious slash to the blaster arm of another Sith, followed by a stab to the heart. Another Bith drew a holdout blaster and took out the other battle droid.

"Well that's just great," Andra muttered sarcastically. "Not even five meters outside the apartment and we've already killed a Sith and destroyed two of their battle droids. So much for keeping a low profile."

"Don't worry, I'll clean this up and move the bodies so it looks like they were killed elsewhere. It will be quite some time before the Sith learn what actually happened, if they ever do," the Bith offered.

"I appreciate that. Good luck to you."

"And to you," the Bith called after them as they stepped out of the apartment complex into the bright light of noon.

Carth had the advantage of being more familiar with the layout of the city, so he led the way to the nearest turbolift that would take them down from the privileged comfort of the Upper City to the rough and tumble streets of the Lower City. Before they had gone very far, however, they were interrupted by a man being threatened by thugs.

"Davik says you missed your last payment," the first thug stated menacingly.

"And Davik doesn't like missed payments," the second added, brandishing his blaster.

Almost without realizing it, the two Republic soldiers had halted their progress to watch.

"Here, I've got 50 credits," the man said. "That should serve as a down payment, right? Buy me some time?"

"Sorry, you're out of time. Now it's all or nothing."

"But I don't have that much! How can I give you credits I don't have?" the man pleaded.

"That's too bad. We'll just have to take it out of your hide, then."

"No! Help! Somebody help! They're going to kill me!"

"I know we have to be careful about drawing attention to ourselves," Carth whispered, "But are we just going to let them drag this guy off?" Andra shook her head and drew her vibroblade; the scrape of leather behind her said Carth was also prepared for a fight. She took a step forward and the first thug turned to face her.

"What's this? A witness?"

"Davik doesn't like witnesses," the second added.

"Apparently Davik doesn't like a lot of things," Andra replied, surprised at her own boldness. But the casual cruelty of these thugs had triggered a sense of outrage deep within her. "What I don't like is you dragging this man off to be killed, or worse. Leave him alone or you'll have to deal with me."

"And just who do you think you are?" the thug demanded. "Looks like we need to teach you a lesson about minding your own business."

The Republic soldiers sprang into action. Andra tucked into a roll and came up close enough to stab the human thug right in the gut. _She handles that vibroblade as well as or even better than her blaster rifle_ Carth noted even as he fired his dual blaster pistols directly at the alien thug. _Never thought I'd like a girl who can hold her own in combat. _The thug screamed and collapsed and, with the threat eliminated, the old man straightened from where he had been cowering.

"Thank you. I owe you my life. For all the good it does me," he complained bitterly. "My wife warned me not to take a loan from Davik… he'll just keep sending more like those two until I'm dead. Or until I pay him, which I never will be able to."

Andra groaned inwardly and fished for her wallet, which had all the credit chits she had filched from the dead Sith soldiers on the Endar Spire. _Sometimes having a sense of justice can be bloody inconvenient. _"How much do you need?"

"100 credits. But I couldn't ask… I mean…"

"Just take them, and consider it a lesson in not borrowing what you can't pay back. Especially not from crime lords."

"I will, I will. Thank you! I'd better get these credits to Davik right away. I… you've given me my life back. You know that, right?"

He ran off, leaving Carth shaking his head in wonder. "That was awfully generous."

"Would you have done any differently?" Andra challenged.

"Probably not," he admitted, "Under most circumstances, anyway, but… look, I approve of you helping people, but don't forget who we're really here to help. Now we should probably get out of here before someone starts wondering about those two." He pointed in the direction of the thugs they had killed. She nodded and they resumed their journey toward the Lower City.

As they approached the door to the lift, however, a silver-armored Sith trooper was waiting for them.

"Hold, civilian. Only Sith patrols and those authorized by the Sith are allowed into the Lower City. You're obviously not Sith so move along unless you have the proper authorization papers."

Andra nodded and lowered her eyes. "I apologize; I didn't know. I'll be going now." Once she was out of earshot, she let out a sigh of frustration. "So what now?"

"Well, if we're going to find Bastila, we're going to need to get our hands on either a set of Sith uniforms or those papers," he replied, as calmly as if he was suggesting a trip to the market.

"And just how in the name of the Force are we supposed to manage that?"

"I don't know, but I'm open to suggestions."

Andra's eyes widened in disbelief. "Open to… you mean you don't have a plan? Well, there has to be another way down, we just need to find it. Maybe if we ask around in the local cantina, we'll find someone who can help us."

The cantina across the way from their apartment complex was more high-class than Andra normally would have preferred, but the lack of Sith patrols made it a safe place to start asking questions.

"So how should we work this?" she whispered to Carth. "We'll cover more ground if we split up."

"You're right," he replied. "I'll take the left side, you take right. We'll meet at the entrance in 20."

Andra stepped up to the bartender with a purposeful expression and laid down a credit chit. "I'll have a lomiin-ale, please." He quickly moved to comply, and once they had settled the bill, she set to work. One of the first people that caught her eye was a woman with light brown hair wearing a light-colored tunic and pants. Unlike most of the bar's occupants, she was drinking alone.

"Hi," she greeted the strange woman in her most friendly tone.

"Sorry," the stranger replied in an accent that clearly marked her as being an off-worlder. "I'm not looking for conversation. Just a drink, some music, and a bit of R&R before my next shift at the military base." The Republic soldier had to work to keep her face neutral. _Of all the people in this cantina, I come face to face with the only Sith. I should be gracefully extricating myself from this conversation…_ but her instincts said to do the exact opposite.

"You're with the Sith? I never would have guessed."

"I don't wear my uniform when I'm off-duty," the Sith replied in her most condescending tone of voice. "You think I want to deal with all the hate-filled stares while I'm trying to enjoy myself? And besides, I'm technically not supposed be here. Anyone in uniform is outright banned from entering the cantina and the officers don't even like it when we show up off-duty. But it gets pretty stale hanging around the base all the time. Besides," she added defensively, "the Sith don't own me. Being a soldier in their fleet is just a job. A job with long hours and low pay, I might add."

"Then why do you do it?"

"I signed up for excitement and adventure in exotic locales. Instead I got posted to a military base on a backwater planet in the Outer Rim. I wish I could retire, but I would need some money first to see me through until I can find another job."

Andra realized her mouth was hanging slightly open and snapped it shut. _Son of the Sith! Do I dare ask…_ "If you can help me get past the guard blocking the Lower City, I'll make it worth your while."

"What? Are you offering me a bribe? You realize I could have you executed for treason, right?"

"Except you won't because if you do, you'll never get your hands on all those credits I can offer you."

"You're right," the Sith confessed. "Truthfully, I find your offer extremely tempting. I could get you some uniforms to sneak by the guard, but if the Sith catch us, we'll be begging for a quick execution. You're asking me to take an awful risk and it's going to cost you. 200 credits up front, no more no less."

Andra counted out the appropriate amount and handed it over. "It's a deal."


	4. Chapter 4

A/n: Thanks to the wonderful Sia, Jillyfae, and Evil Sapphyre for their input on this chapter. If you liked the party scene, then thank them because it was their feedback that led me to make it what it is in this final version. And now back to your regularly scheduled KotOR.

* * *

Andra watched as the Sith stowed the money in her pocket. "So how do you plan to get us those uniforms?"

"Oh, just getting you the uniforms would be no trouble at all. The real trick is to do it without the Sith realizing I gave them to you. But I have an idea: a bunch of us Sith are going to a party tonight in one of the apartment complexes a few blocks away. We won't even be stopping to drop off our uniforms. I'll make sure everyone gets good and drunk, and when we're all passed out, you can have your pick of our uniforms."

"Won't you get in trouble if I steal your uniform?" Andra asked with a worried frown. The Sith shook her head and chuckled.

"I'll probably get a reprimand for not locking it up, but nothing worse. Then in another month, I'll resign and disappear with all those credits you gave me." She pulled out a datapad, selected a file and thumbed the transmit button. "The file I just sent you has all the details about when and where to go. I'll see you there… right now I have a few arrangements to make and my shift starts soon. To be safe, we probably shouldn't speak again outside of the party. And remember, if you get caught with those uniforms, I don't know you." Andra nodded and wandered further into the cantina as the Sith woman took a final swig of her lum and made for the exit. As she did, she noted in passing a sign advertising a dueling ring inside the cantina

With the problem of getting into the Lower City solved, Andra settled at a table in the back of the room to finish her drink. After a few minutes, she heard a familiar male voice speaking.

"Can I get you a drink?"

She looked up and met Carth's smile with one of her own, playfully looking him up and down. "Hmm… nice body, handsome face… I'd gladly accept, but I've got a party to go to later so I should probably save the drinking for then. I am looking for a date, though, if you're interested."

"Party? What?" Carth exclaimed, his smile fading into a puzzled frown. If she was honest, Andra was just as surprised, but for a completely different reason. _What in the name of the Force possessed me to say that?_

"Walk with me and I'll explain once we get back to the apartment," she murmured in a voice just loud enough for him to hear over the background hum of conversation filling the room. "It has to do with that problem we were discussing earlier."

His reaction when she finally told him the plan was not at all what she expected, to put it lightly.

"You did what? You could have lost us the war right there! How do you know this Sith isn't going to report us to her superiors and arrange for us to be arrested at this 'party'? Or at the very least, disappear with the credits you gave her and not fulfill her end of the bargain?"

"She has no particular loyalty to the Sith, and I felt no deception from her."

Carth gave a skeptical snort. "'Felt no deception'? Are you a Jedi or something?"

"No, just very good at reading people. And from what I read of the Sith woman, she genuinely plans to help us. So will you back me up tonight or not?"

He nodded reluctantly. "I don't think we have much of a choice but to take our chances with whatever might happen. I got absolutely nowhere with any of the people I talked to."

"Thanks," she answered with a grateful smile. "Now, any ideas for how to kill the time until the party?"

"Not really. You?"

"Maybe. It strikes me that we're rapidly exhausting our small stash of credits and I believe I saw a sign for a dueling ring back in the cantina…"

When they returned to the apartment, Andra had a couple new scars and a decidedly fuller purse of credits than when they had left.

"You really know how to handle that vibroblade, Andra," Carth said admiringly. "Where'd you learn to fight like that?"

She blushed. "That means a lot coming from a soldier of your stature. I learned it in basic training. With energy shields coming into such popularity, they're putting a lot more emphasis on blades. But enough about me… what about you? You've seen my service record but I know next to nothing about you aside from the stories I've heard."

Carth shrugged nonchalantly. "Not much to tell. I've been a star pilot for the Republic for almost a decade… fought in the Mandalorian Wars before all this started. Saw some pretty horrible things—the battle of Serroco among others." The stories she had heard about that battle were enough to give even the most hardened soldiers nightmares. Nuclear missiles obliterated nearly every major center of civilization on the planet and the Republic defenders were soundly routed. Casualties numbered in the millions.

"You're too modest," she said. "From what I heard, you were singlehandedly responsible for sounding the alarm, saving quite a few lives."

"I was just doing my job. Anyone else would have done the same. Anyway," he continued, "even Serroco can't compare to the slaughter these Sith animals can unleash. The Mandalorians never annihilated a planet so thoroughly that two years later, the atmosphere is still so acidic that nothing can survive there. They weren't that senseless, even at their worst."

The words, combined with the anger and pain in his voice, crystallized into a single name, a name that had sent shockwaves through the embattled Republic. "Telos," she breathed.

He nodded tightly. "My homeworld. The Sith bombed it into submission and there wasn't a damn thing the Republic could do to stop it."

"My God, Carth! I'm so sorry. Were you… I mean, did you…"

"I did everything I could. I followed my orders and did my duty. That shouldn't mean I failed them. I didn't!"

_He didn't answer the question_ she noted, but what he _had_ said piqued her interest. "Who, Carth? The people of your homeworld?" she asked gently.

"Yes… I mean, no, not exactly. I…" he let out a short, explosive breath. "I'm sorry; I'm making absolutely no sense. I know you meant well with your questions, I'm just not accustomed to talking about my past much. Or at all, really. I prefer to keep my mind focused on the business at hand. So can we do that? If you have more questions, you can ask me later."

When it was time to leave for the party, Andra gave herself an assessing glance in the mirror and nodded in satisfaction. Her dark hair had been swept up into an elegant twist, her makeup done to perfection, and she was most pleased with the effect of the sparkly red blouse and plain denim skirt she wore.

"You look nice," Carth complemented her quietly.

"Thanks," she replied with a smile. "If we're going to a party, we may as well dress appropriately. You look pretty dashing yourself."

When they arrived at the address of the party, the Sith woman greeted them enthusiastically. "Hey, you made it after all! I was worried you weren't going to show. I'm Sarna, by the way."

Andra nodded pleasantly. _Quick, got to think of a false name. _"I'm Alina."

"You didn't tell me you were bringing a guest. Care to introduce me?" Sarna requested with an appreciative glance at Carth.

"This is my boyfriend, Eaton."

"Ah," the Sith answered in a noticeably cooler tone. "Well, should you and he ever break things off… Anyway, come on in. The party's in full swing."

"Boyfriend?" Carth muttered once Sarna had returned to playing drinking games with the other Sith soldiers.

"It was the easiest way to convince her to leave you alone. I didn't think you'd want her trying to flirt with you all night and frankly, I'm not any more keen on… Sithspawn!" she swore under her breath as she spotted a dark-haired Sith man headed her way.

"Well, hello there, sweetheart," the Sith greeted her in an oily smooth voice. "Haven't seen you around before. What's your name?"

"Alina," she responded, forcing a smile as she extended a hand for him to shake. He bent over to kiss it instead and it took all her self-control not to wipe the spot his lips had touched.

"A pleasure to meet you. I'm Yun Genda, junior officer first class in the Sith occupation force. Can I buy you a drink, maybe ask you for a dance or two?"

She shook her head. "I'm afraid not. I'm taken already and my boyfriend is the jealous type." She glanced meaningfully in the direction of Carth, who was doing a tremendous job of looking like he was about to punch something… or someone. The disappointed Yun slunk off to pour himself another glass of Tarisian ale.

"So what do we do now?" Carth asked.

"We avoid drinking any more than necessary to keep up appearances and wait for the others to pass out. In the meantime, I suppose we'd better do a convincing job of pretending that we're more than casual acquaintances. Care to dance?"

He took her hand hesitantly and led her toward the dance floor. "Sure, beautiful."

There were a few Sith in the section of the room that had been set aside for dancing, but none of them appeared to be together as couples, which likely explained why they were all currently standing around the edges of the floor: the song that was playing was a stately, elegant tune that spoke feelingly of love and passion. Carth and Andra stood there facing each other for a few moments until finally Andra broke the silence.

"Aren't we going to dance, love?"

"With all these people watching?"

"Oh, don't be shy. It's just an Alderaanian Waltz. You do know how to dance that, right?" she added in a low voice.

"Yes," he answered just as quietly, "but…" His objections were silenced as Andra took his right arm and firmly positioned it so that his hand was in the middle of her back, then, hiding her clenched teeth behind a false smile, placed her left hand on his shoulder. "I…"

"Take my other hand, Eaton," she ordered firmly, only just remembering not to call him by his true name. He complied and after a few initial missteps, they settled into the rhythm of the dance. _One-two-three, one-two-three… _Andra was surprised to find herself actually enjoying it. Neither of them was likely to win any awards for their dancing skill, but they managed to keep mostly in sync as they twisted and twirled around the dance floor. The last notes of the song faded into the din of conversation and with a final spin, Andra came to rest as Carth gathered her into a surprisingly tender embrace.

"You know," he murmured quietly enough that only she could hear, "This pretending to be your boyfriend isn't so bad."

She smiled up at him. "This is the part where you kiss me." His deep brown eyes widened and he automatically tried to pull away, but Andra held him tight. "Please?" she begged, attempting to assume her most appealing expression and not think about how badly she was likely failing. "For appearance's sake." He finally relented, and his face drew near, Andra closed her eyes and tried her best to look like she was actually enjoying this. Their lips' first meeting was timid, even awkward, but soon a long-buried part of Andra came alive, or perhaps she was merely responding to Carth's increasing passion, and the kiss deepened to the point that they began to draw stares and giggles from the onlookers. Suddenly Carth broke off and pushed her from him like she had some sort of contagious disease. Andra was surprised to find genuine tears stinging her eyes.

"What did I do?"

When her companion refused to answer, she fled for the bar. "I'll have a Tarisian Ale, please," she requested of the bartender. Drink in hand, she excused herself to the restroom, where she took a generous gulp of the potent liquor before collapsing to the ground, trembling. A few minutes later, a quiet knock sounded on the door.

"A… Alina?"

"Come in if you must," she sighed.

He stepped inside and closed the door behind him. "I'm sorry."

"Are you going to explain what in the name of the Sith happened?"

"I wasn't expecting… that… and I overreacted. I don't know what to say except to apologize."

"Apology accepted." She smiled weakly. "Now shall we go rejoin the party before the Sith start thinking we're fair game?"

Carth grabbed his own Tarisian Ale and the two Republic fugitives curled up on the couch, her head resting on his shoulder, and made small talk with the Sith soldiers until one by one they succumbed to the lure of alcohol.

"Well, what do you know? Sarna's plan worked," Carth observed, and his companion was glad she didn't have to remind him to keep his voice down and step very carefully. She led the way to the room the party-goers had used for storing their personal belongings.

"Heh, don't thank me 'til we've found uniforms that fit." She dropped the romantic guise with an inward sigh of relief but didn't fully relax until they were safely back in their hideout.

"Well, we seem to have gotten away with it," Andra remarked, stuffing her purloined uniform in an inconspicuous corner of the bedroom.

Carth nodded agreement. "For now, at least. Tomorrow morning we test out just how well our disguise works."

"Not exactly looking forward to that. I think I'd rather spend the time trying to get more answers out of you. Would probably be easier, too!" she added, only half joking.

"All you have to do is ask."

Andra leaned against the bed and folded her arms. "Is that so?" she questioned, fixing him with her most direct stare. He matched her stare for stare until finally she sighed. "You really want to do this now?"

"I'm all ears, beautiful," he replied with a flirtatious smile.

She raised an eyebrow. _You want to flirt? Well, two can play at that game._ "I like the sound of that."

"Which? The fact that I'm all ears or the beautiful part?"

She pretended to consider for a moment. "The beautiful part. Keep calling me that." Under most circumstances, she probably wouldn't have been so bold, but the combination of the Tarisian ale she'd drunk at the party and fatigue and those gorgeous brown eyes crinkled in amusement and _is that a bed I'm leaning against? _She jumped away as if stung.

The only sign Carth gave that he had noticed her sudden discomfiture was a single snort of laughter. "I might consider it, but what are you going to call me in return?"

"I might call you someone who is trying very hard to avoid answering the question I asked you earlier."

He ducked his head sheepishly. "Guilty as charged. Is this really necessary?"

"I just want to get to know you better," she protested. "If you really mind so much, I'll stop."

"No, I don't mind," he responded, a little too grudgingly for Andra to believe him. "But can I ask you something first?"

"Go ahead."

"I've been going over the battle aboard the Endar Spire over and over again since the crash. Some things just don't add up for me and I was wondering if you could tell me what happened from your perspective."

She shrugged. "For what it's worth. I was asleep when that Interdictor ship dragged us from hyperspace."

"Fair enough," he acknowledged. "The battle began so fast that even those of us who were awake were caught off-guard. One moment we were cruising through hyperspace, the next we were surrounded by Sith who had us dead in space." His fists were clenched in frustration. "We lost the ship and a lot of good people, and I just wish I knew what for."

"So do I," Andra admitted. "I'll be a Wookie's uncle if we were really going to Tatooine to garrison it."

"You mean you don't know what our true mission was?" Carth asked, disbelieving.

Andra folded her arms across her chest, the last traces of embarrassment fading along with her good mood. "And what exactly is that supposed to mean?"

"You were added to the crew at the last minute. By personal request of Bastila herself. I thought she would have told you why we were heading to Tatooine."

"Sorry to disappoint you, but I didn't know Bastila was the one who requested my transfer. I never even spoke to her."

"Maybe." From his tone, he didn't believe her. "But whether you know it or not, your connection to Bastila makes your survival a little too convenient."

"'A little too convenient'?" she repeated, her eyes narrowing dangerously. "Are you always this paranoid?"

"Not trying to be. But I learned a long time ago that something that _looks_ like coincidence probably isn't, especially when the Jedi are involved."

Andra pressed her hands to her forehead, trying for all she was worth not to lose her temper. "I'm telling you, Carth, I know nothing about any Jedi business. You'd do better to ask Bastila why she even knows my name, let alone pulled strings to have me assigned to her ship."

"That's a little difficult, isn't it, when we still don't know where she is?" he pointed out.

"Then shouldn't we be working together to find her instead of fighting over unfounded suspicions like this?"

"I _am_ working with you. I'd be a fool not to; without your skill with a vibroblade, your command of alien languages, and your… inexplicable talent for reading people," he added in a tone that made Andra grind her teeth, "we would never have made it this far. But I'd also be a fool not to expect the unexpected. I learned a long time ago not to take things at face value, and I _hate_ surprises."

She glared at him. "Why are you so suspicious of me?"

"Look," he sighed. "It has nothing to do with you personally, I promise. I don't trust anyone, and I have my reasons." Andra opened her mouth, but by then Carth knew her well enough to predict what she was going to say. "And no, I'm not going to discuss them. So can we just keep our minds on more important things?"

"I consider this extremely important," she retorted.

He held up his hands in surrender. "Alright, alright! You must be the most damned persistent woman I've ever met. We'll talk about it, but not right now. It's been a long day and we have an early morning tomorrow."

It wasn't until she was lying in bed several minutes later that she realized their argument had rather effectively distracted her from pressing Carth for more personal details.


	5. Chapter 5

A/N: Thanks to Jillyfae for her input on this chapter. And be prepared: deviation from game canon incoming. Hang on tight because even I'm not sure just how far-reaching the impact of this seemingly minor change is going to be.

* * *

The sun was just about to rise above the skyline of Taris when the alarm on the chrono awakened Andra from a sound sleep.

"Ugh," she muttered to herself. "I feel like I need about three more hours of sleep. Why did we have to get up this early?" Once she had freshened up, she went out to the kitchen and found Carth already sitting at the table.

"Good morning," he greeted her pleasantly, as if their argument the night before—_and a few other things as well_—had never happened. She strode right past him with just the faintest "hmph" and went to toast herself a bagel from the provisions Carth had bought them. A few minutes later she returned with the bagel and a glass of fruit juice and sat down across from Carth, determinedly avoiding his gaze.

"I know you're angry with me, but ignoring me isn't exactly helping us work together," he pointed out to her after she had eaten the entire bagel and begun sipping thoughtfully at her juice without once looking at or speaking to him.

"And accusing your partner of being a liar and a traitor _is _helpful?" Andra shot back.

"I never said…"

"Maybe not in so many words, but that was the gist of what I heard you saying last night. So tell me, exactly what part of working with someone when you say you don't trust them makes sense to you?"

He gave her a stare that might have been intimidating had the two big lumps of pastry in his cheeks not completely spoiled the effect.

"You were willing to work with Sarna even though you didn't fully trust her," Carth pointed out once he swallowed. "Or at least, I hope you didn't trust her."

"I trusted her to fulfill her part of our bargain and not betray us to the Sith. I didn't need to trust her any further."

He leaned back in his chair with just the slightest hint of a satisfied smile on his face. "So why can't you accept the same with me?"

"Because I'm not really sure you trust me even that far."

"I don't have much of a choice," he explained with a shrug of his shoulders. It wasn't an unequivocal yes, but Andra knew it was the best she could expect from him just then. Nevertheless, she was in no mood to make small talk as they finished their meal and dressed in their stolen Sith uniforms.

People tended to discretely keep their distance from the disguised Republic soldiers as they marched down the walkways of the Upper City toward the lift that had been closed to them the day before. Andra felt an ache of sympathy for the frightened Tarisians, tempered by the knowledge that at least they were unlikely to cause trouble. Far more worrisome to her was the possibility of encountering a Sith patrol, but fortunately the two they did pass at this early hour continued on their way without so much as breaking their stride. Even the guard at the elevator asked no questions before letting them through. Once the door slid shut behind them, Andra removed her helmet with a sigh and saw Carth do likewise.

"Considering how successful they've been, the Sith are surprisingly incompetent in matters of security," the dark-haired woman observed as the lift began to descend. "Bastila herself could have put on a uniform and waltzed right on by that guard."

Carth shrugged in his uniform. "Taris is just a little nowhere planet long past its prime. Until Bastila crashed three days ago, I doubt the Sith cared much what happened here. My biggest fear is that Malak himself may have come to oversee the search. He knows that if he can capture her, he'll have all but won the war."

"Then we need to stop him," Andra decided, her mouth settling into a determined line. "Now, do you think we should keep the uniforms or ditch them?"

Carth leaned against the wall of the lift, frowning thoughtfully. "Keeping the armor might bring us trouble, but it could come in handy if the way to the Undercity is guarded."

The olive-skinned woman nodded. "I say we keep them for now. We can always change our minds later."

The door of the lift opened to reveal a world that, while somewhat dirtier and more worn-looking than the Upper City, was nevertheless still quite livable. The biggest complaint one might have was that the sky was completely blotted out by the walkways and buildings of the upper levels of the city. From the moment she first stepped outside the turbolift, another difference became clear: the proportion of humans to other species was much lower than in the Upper City. Down the walkway to the left, two groups of people confronted each other and only one of the individuals was human.

"Beks are bantha fodder! Vulkars are the strongest!" one Twi'lek shouted.

"We'll show you who's strongest," a Rodian in the opposite group shot back. The battle was short and ugly and went decidedly badly for the Beks.

"Uh, maybe we should…" Andra muttered to Carth, but it was too late. The victorious Vulkars had noticed them.

"Sith aren't welcome here!" their leader declared and drew his stun baton before the 'Sith' had any chance to reply. The other Vulkars also drew stun batons and Andra and Carth mirrored them by readying their own weapons. Two came charging after Carth and he dropped them with two expertly aimed shot from his dual blaster pistols. The third closed warily on Andra. The longer reach of a vibroblade relative to a stun baton gave the Ensign just the slightest advantage, but not nearly enough for her to feel confident that she would win this battle. The Vulkar darted in at her, stabbing with his stun baton, but she danced backwards and deflected the blow with her weapon. Out of the corner of her eye, she felt more than saw Carth edging around in an attempt to get a clear shot. She slashed at the Vulkar's fighting arm but he brought the baton up to block the blow. Andra silently thanked the Force for the insulated wrapping on vibroblade handles that prevented the energy of the stun baton from travelling right through to her hand. To her left, Carth had finally succeeded in getting a good angle for a shot and as the fierce red bolts of energy went sizzling toward the Vulkar, he dodged to the side and they flew past his elbow to scorch black-rimmed holes in the wall of a nearby apartment building. Andra charged through the space where Carth's shots had just passed and unleashed a flurry of blows at him. She aimed a slashing blow at his left temple and before he could respond, stabbed him right through the stomach. The Vulkar went down with a gurgle.

"Ugh, I hope we can't expect too much more of this," Andra sighed, wiping her blade on the dead Vulkar's clothes.

"These people aren't spoiled and sheltered like in the Upper City, and they have no love for the Sith. I think we'd better plan on more of the same as long as we keep these uniforms," was Carth's expert opinion. The reflective faceplate of Andra's armor hid her answering grimace.

"I feel bad fighting people because they believe we're Sith when we really aren't."

"Yeah, well, I wouldn't worry too much about it. You saw them fighting those Beks or whatever they're called… they're still vicious gang members and I'm not going to waste any tears on them."

Andra just shrugged in response and straightened, letting Carth lead the way further into the Lower City. The map of the Lower City Carth had managed to obtain indicated that the nearest lift was just a couple of blocks away, if one could use such a term in a city with such an irregular, twisting layout. The walkway they were following curved around, passing apartment buildings and brightly lit signs advertising stores, cantinas, and other establishments. Despite this, they did not see many people strolling along the walkways; the few they did see walked quickly and purposefully, aiming to take care of their business and move on without wasting any time. The only ones who walked around freely were wearing the same colors as the three Vulkars they had fought earlier, and the occasional passers-by steered well clear of them. Fortunately, none of the gang members stood between the disguised Republic soldiers and their goal. Upon reaching the turbolift, Andra reached for the button to summon it but the lone Sith stopped her.

"Hold on- just where do you think you're going? Only the Undercity patrols are allowed past here."

"I've got orders to join up with one of them," Andra replied, silently praying the Sith would believe her.

"Is that so? Then let's see your security papers."

"I… uh… forgot them back at the base," she lied. The guard was unimpressed.  
"Then you'd better march on back up there and get them, or talk to your commanding officer and have him get you some. Down here we run a tight ship, not like the slipshod operation in the Upper City."

Andra gave Carth a sidelong glance. _Think we can take him? _He evidently understood what she meant to ask because he replied with just the slightest shake of his head, looking pointedly in the direction of one of the five blaster turrets surrounding them.

"I'll be going now," she said to the guard and turned to retrace her steps back toward the Upper City, Carth right on her heels. As soon as they were out of sight of the guard, she slumped against the wall.

"Son of the Sith, why can't anything ever be simple?"

"Don't panic; we'll think of something. We did before." Even more aggravating, he sounded as if he actually believed it. She snorted.

"Before? We got damn lucky is what happened. Luckier than any person has a right to be even once, let alone twice." She peeled off her helmet and began removing the Sith armor piece by piece, revealing her slightly sweat-soaked street clothes underneath. "Well, I suppose these uniforms won't do us any good at this point. We may as well ditch them, at least for now." Carth followed suit, and once their stolen uniforms were safely tucked in their packs, they began to walk back the way they had come, Andra looking around with an anxious frown at serious lack of other people on the 'streets'.

"Carth, I still feel like something is very wrong here. In the Upper City we saw dozens of people going about their daily business despite the presence of Sith patrols. Down here, the only Sith we've seen is the door guard, and yet there isn't a soul in sight besides the Vulkars."

"From what we saw when we first came down here, it looks like the Vulkars are having a gang war with the Beks, whoever they are. That can be pretty nasty for anyone caught in the middle." Just then, they passed a building with a bright neon sign above it that read 'Javyar's Cantina'. "But I'm guessing anyone bold enough to be wandering the city will be in here. Besides, those are the ones more likely to be the kind of people who might be able to help us."

The cantina looked considerably less pristine than the one in the Upper City. Scorch marks from blaster bolts riddled the walls and in a few places, bits of the floor plating had been blasted away by grenades to reveal the grating underneath. But, just as Carth had said, there were people. The first ordinary citizens they had seen since entering the Lower City. "Same plan as before?" Carth asked.

"Sure, why not? You can take right this time." But before either of them could go anywhere, they caught sight of an altercation that froze them in their tracks. A man in a blue jacket and black pants was walking out of a side room of the cantina when two Twi'leks and a Rodian all wearing Vulkar colors stepped between him and the exit to the cantina.

"Go away," the man said, but the Vulkars didn't move.

"Bad idea," Andra whispered in Carth's ear. The man was unusually short, several inches shorter than Andra, who was not particularly tall for a woman, but his appearance and manner just screamed 'Do not mess with'. The hapless Vulkars, however, seemed to have missed the warning signs.

"Hey, you don't need to talk like that. We just want to say hi to the big, bad bounty hunter Calo Nord," the Rodian squeaked mockingly in his own language.

"Nah," one of the Twi'leks replied, "This can't be Calo Nord. He's supposed to be tough and this guy is just a runt."

Calo gave the three Vulkars a warning look. "One." None of them budged a centimeter.

"One? What's that supposed to mean? You trying to be funny, tough guy?" the Twi'lek taunted.

"You know who we are?" the other Twi'lek asked. "We're Black Vulkars. You don't want to be getting funny with us, Calo."

"I don't get it," the Rodian said. "Why are you counting? Trying to count how many of us there are against you?"

"It's three against one, Calo," the second Twi'lek announced in a smugly superior tone of voice. "What do you have to say to that, huh?"

"Three," Calo finished in the same dispassionate voice he had been using all along. When the Vulkars continued to stand their ground, he threw a flash grenade in their direction and, in the heartbeat his opponents were blinded, quickly and efficiently shot all three of them. He then proceeded to stroll casually out of the cantina, eyeing the onlookers as if daring anyone else to make a move. Andra edged closer to the bar to make sure she was nowhere in his path. _Well, if that sort of thing happens on a daily basis, I can see how this place got so beat-up. _Finally the door slid shut and she released a breath she hadn't realized she was holding. Around her the patrons of the cantina began to resume what they had been doing before the altercation distracted them. The group seated around the Sabaac table picked up where they had left off, conversation restarted, and in the back corner of the cantina a young Twi'lek sat playing Pazaak with a chestnut-colored Wookie.

Near the door to the side room Calo had entered from stood a well-armed human man. "Something I can do for you?" he asked when Andra paused in front of him.

"That depends," Andra replied in an equally businesslike tone. "What do you do here?"

"I'm a bounty hunter. If you're looking to place a bounty, though, you'll want to talk to Zax.

"Who's…" she broke off at the sound of raised voices coming from nearby. "Excuse me."

It didn't take her long to locate the source. The Twi'lek she had spotted earlier was engaged in a heated argument with two Rodians.

"I told you to leave me alone!" she shouted. "So give me some space, bug-eye. Your breath smells like bantha poodoo."

"You shouldn't be in this bar, little girl. This is no place for you. If you're smart, you'll run away home now," one of the Rodians threatened.

"Who're you calling little girl, chuba face?"

"Little girl needs a lesson in manners."

At that point Andra drew her vibroblade and edged closer to the confrontation. On the other side of the room, she caught sight of Carth with his hand on his blaster. _Frankly, his blaster will probably be more useful if push comes to shove._ To Andra's surprise, the Twi'lek girl actually smiled.

"Just a sec, boys. Zaalbar," she called over her shoulder, "A little help here? I need you to rip the legs off some insects."

The chestnut Wookie who had been playing Pazaak with her earlier growled in response. To most people, the growl would have been meaningless, but to Andra's trained ear it was clearly comprehensible speech.

"Can it wait, Mission? I'm busy. They just brought my food."

"No, it can't, so quit complaining and get over here. You can finish eating later."

The Rodians cowered before the furry giant.

"We don't want any trouble with a Wookie. Our problem is with you, little girl."

"You have a problem with one of us, then you have a problem with both of us. So unless you want to take on my friend here, I suggest you greenies hop on out of here."

The Rodians retreated, grumbling, and Andra returned her vibroblade to its sheath at her belt. The Twi'lek noticed her and smiled.

"Thanks, but I had everything under control. Those two are hardly the first to mistake me for an easy target." Over the Twi'lek's shoulder, Andra could see Carth approaching.

"And you dealt with them pretty handily," he complimented her. "You've got a lot of guts, kid. What's your name?"

"Mission Vao. And this is my best friend, Zaalbar. Say, I don't recognize either of you and I know pretty much everyone in the Lower City. Are you new down here?" Andra gave Carth a questioning glance. _Tell her the truth or make something up?_

"We're offworlders," Carth answered. "We got stuck here when the Sith quarantined the planet."

"I see. Well, if there's anything you need…"

The same instinct that had prompted Andra to trust Sarna now led her to trust this Twi'lek who couldn't be older than about 14 or 15.

"Actually, we're looking for a… friend. She was travelling with us on our ship but we got separated. We think she might be somewhere in the Undercity, but the Sith guard is causing us problems. He won't let anyone past without clearance."

Mission's eyes lit up. "The Undercity? Well, you came to the right Twi'lek. Zaalbar and I go down there all the time exploring, looking for stuff to salvage. I can get you there no problem. Follow me!"

Zaalbar moaned plaintively. "But I didn't even get to eat!

Carth gave the enthusiastic young teenager a slightly suspicious look but followed her from the building without complaint. She led the two Republic soldiers on a convoluted course through the walkways of the Lower City, always steering well clear of the occasional bands of Vulkars. Finally, she paused in front of a grate along the side of one of the walkways.

"We're going to be crawling through the sewers?" Carth exclaimed in disbelief.

"If you want to find your friend before the Sith do, yes."

"And why would you think the Sith are looking for her?"

Mission rolled her eyes, her amused grin showing teeth somewhat more pointed than a human's. "Please. I might be young but I'm not stupid. Zaalbar and I are the only ones who ever go into the Undercity willingly. And everyone knows about the Republic escape pods that crashed into the Undercity. It wasn't that hard to figure out your friend was with the Republic, and I'm betting you two are also."

"And if we are? What are you going to do about it?"

"Help you find your friend, of course. I've got no reason to like the Sith; I'd love to see them off this planet." The teenager reached down to lift off the grate and set it on the ground beside them. Carth moved to help her when he saw how heavy it was, but she waved him off. "Let's go; there's a ladder that takes us down to the maintenance shaft."


	6. Chapter 6

"Pheugh," Carth moaned as he stepped off the ladder into the sewer. "I don't know how you stand the smell, Mission." Andra, just a meter above him on the ladder, had to privately agree. _That Zaalbar is willing to follow Mission down here shows just how strong a bond they have. _The place smelled like rotting bantha fodder mixed with the excrement of half a dozen different species and she found herself holding her breath as much as possible. _If it's this bad for me, it must be a hundred times worse for a Wookie with their sensitive noses. _The maintenance shaft consisted of a narrow strip of metal grating jutting out from the right hand wall, just wide enough for them to pass single-file, and even then it was a tight squeeze for Zaalbar. Covering the durasteel walls was a greenish-brown slime that made Andra's skin crawl just looking at it. For the better part of an hour they travelled in silence, Mission leading the trio down a path only she knew. The journey was safe, which left Andra more time for thought than she would have preferred, and inevitably her mind kept returning to Carth. _I just don't get the man. He has no problem turning his back on me and yet sometimes he looks as if he half-expects me to stab him in it. And I did absolutely nothing to deserve that._

After another hour, they climbed up out of the sewers onto the actual surface of the planet. After decades and centuries without sunlight, it wasn't much to look at; the ground was covered in dust that appeared grayish in the dim light of their glowrods, there was almost no plant growth except for occasional patches of fungi in the damper areas, and it smelled only marginally better than the sewers. But it stretched on as far as the eye could see, broken only occasionally by the bases of buildings that doubtless reached up into the Lower City and even perhaps the Upper City. Andra bit her lip as the sheer scale of what they had to search hit her.

"We could be looking down here for days, weeks, months even and still not find Bastila. Carth, do you have any way to pinpoint more precisely where her escape pod landed?"

He nodded. "All the escape pods have a transponder that allow ships to track them for retrieval in space. Unfortunately, our comlinks don't have the power a ship's comm. system does. But we can pick up anything within 50 kilometers and the escape pods wouldn't have landed very far apart." He pulled out his comlink and adjusted a few settings. "Got it. I'm reading two pods, one a kilometer to the north and another five kilometers to the west. Let's check out the closer one first."

The pod had crashed right next a building; fortunately for whoever had been in it, the escape hatch was facing away from the wall. As they approached, they heard a voice call out, "Who's there?"

"Friends," Carth answered.

A head peeked cautiously from the pod. "Commander?" The man's face lit up when he recognized Carth and he began to crawl from the pod. "It is you! You don't know how happy I am to see you, sir. I've been hiding out here for days just trying to keep the rakghouls from getting me. They already got Dral and Kantris."

Andra gave the man a puzzled frown. "Rakghouls?"

"You'll know one when you see it. Hideous mutants about as high as your waist, covered in slimy gray skin with three eyes and a mouth full of sharp teeth. If you see one, run as fast as you can in the opposite direction. Even the slightest scratch from one of those things can infect you with a disease that will turn you into one of them."

Carth shuddered eloquently. "We'll keep that in mind, but we can't abandon our search for Bastila. Do you know if she was in this pod?"

"No, sir; she was in another one. It went down not too far to the west of here… we were tracking it but lost the signal when our own pod crashed, sir.

"We have the signal," Carth informed him. "Thanks. Now why don't you…"

"Wait, what was that?" the dark-skinned soldier interrupted. "Did you hear something?" Andra and Carth shook their heads, but Mission nodded. "I know I heard something," the man insisted. "Just around the corner. There it is again!" This time the sound was clearly audible: quick, loping footsteps drawing near. Then the source of the noise came into view, and from the description the soldier had given, it was unmistakably a rakghoul. "It's those monsters again!" he screamed. "Run! Run for your lives!" Both Andra and Carth tried to restrain him but weren't quick enough.

"You idiot!" Andra swore as one of the rakhgouls bit him right in the jugular. "You ran right at them!" But there was no time to worry about it because the monsters were now coming after her. The battle was fierce but short and ultimately there were four less rakghouls in the Undercity.

"Phew!" Andra breathed, panting from the exertion of the battle. "Alright, Carth, care to lead the way?"

The trio kept a watchful eye as they walked in case more of the rakghouls approached. Every noise in the darkness pressing down around them seemed to herald another attack, and Andra found herself fervently wishing they had stronger illumination than mere glowrods, but they did not encounter any more of the monsters on their way to the pod. Unfortunately, neither did they see Bastila when they reached it.

"What do we do now?" Andra asked.

"Look around, see if you can find anything that confirms Bastila was here. After that we can try to follow her tracks and find out where she went."

_Truth be told_ Andra reflected _there isn't much to see in here at all. _The only thing unusual was that the survival kit was still in its place under the seat. _That can mean one of three things. Either she planned to come back soon, she didn't leave of her own free will, or she's arrogant enough to think she can get by without it. And what's this? _Nearly completely hidden next to the survival kit was a metal cylinder slightly longer than a human's forearm, studded on the side with a pair of buttons and wrapped in a material that made it easier to grip.

"Hey Carth! I think we found that that confirmation you were looking for. Bastila lost her lightsaber."

"And I think I know where she went," Mission called from behind the pod. "Check this out." In her hand she held a stun baton.

Carth frowned at the weapon. "So we can guess she was captured, but how does this tell us by whom?"

"See this?" She pointed at a little symbol engraved on the hilt of the stun baton. "It's the mark of the Black Vulkars. One of them must have dropped it during the fight."

"So do you know where they would have taken her?"

"I know where their main base is. This way!"

Of course, after spending over an hour taking the place apart from top to bottom, they found that Bastila wasn't there either. _That would have been too simple_ Andra grumbled to herself. "Alright, what's our next move?"

"If the Vulkars have her, the leader of the Beks, Gadon Thek, might know something about it," Mission suggested confidently.

"Can you take us to him?" Carth requested.

"Absolutely."

Despite the Twi'lek's confidence, the guard at the door was reluctant to let them in.

"How do you know they're not Vulkar spies sent to kill Gadon?" the dark skinned woman demanded.

"I know them, Cara. They're not spies. They want to join us against the Vulkars."

"Well, we do need all the help we can get," Cara reflected. "And Mission vouches for you. If she's wrong… well, it's not like the two of you can do anything to harm Gadon in the heart of his own base. Especially not with Zaerdra watching him like a hawk." She reached over to open the door. "Alright, go in and speak to Gadon if you want. Just remember to be on your best behavior… the Hidden Beks are watching you."

The base was rather small and cramped, but the Vulkars went about their business with surprising efficiency in spite of it. At a desk in the very back of the room sat a dark-skinned man with a neatly trimmed moustache and a plain silver eyebrow ring.

"That's Gadon," Mission explained in a voice just loud enough to reach her companions' ears. "He's a good guy. Lost his sight in a swoop bike accident a few years ago but even blind he's still a better leader than Brejik will ever be."

When they were still five feet from the desk, a tan-skinned Twi'lek with brilliant purple eyes stopped them.

"Hold it right there. Who are you and what is your business with Gadon?"

Mission stepped to the front of the group. "They're with me, Zaerdra, and they're friends."

"But how do you know we can trust them? The way things stand right now, anyone we don't know is a potential threat."

"Do you want us to start attacking strangers on sight, Zaerdra, like the Vulkars do?" Gadon interrupted. "I will never let it come to that. Now step aside and let them pass." Zaerdra reluctantly complied, though she still never took her eyes off them, and Andra stepped forward to close the last of the gap between her and the desk. The man reached out to offer Andra his hand.

"I'm Gadon."

"I'm Andra and this is Carth. I believe you already know Mission and Zaalbar." She took his hand and shook it.

"Pleased to meet you. Now, what did you want to talk to me about?"

To Andra's surprise, he was looking directly into her eyes. _So he must have at least some sight. _Then she noticed the eerie pale blue color of his irises. _Ah, that explains it. Ocular implants. Interesting, but not particularly relevant to the business at hand. _"We believe a friend of ours has been captured by the Vulkars, but she is not at their main hideout. Mission thought you might know where to find her."

"If you're talking about who I think you are, Brejik has her hidden away somewhere very safe. She's too valuable to risk anything happening to her."

"But what does he want with her?" Carth wondered, anxiety showing in the way his lower lip caught between his teeth.

"Normally he would sell a prisoner to Davik or another offworld slaver for a quick profit. But a Republic officer is no ordinary catch. He plans to offer her as the Vulkar's share of the prize in the big season opener swoop race the day after tomorrow."

"So they still think Bastila is just another Republic officer," Carth whispered to Andra. "That could work to our advantage. Maybe she'll even figure out a way to escape on her own."

"But we can't count on it," Andra replied, speaking at a more normal volume. "Gadon, is there any way we can find her?"

He shook his head. "Not before the race. Our only hope is for you to enter and win. Then Brejik will have no choice but to let her go."

Carth raised an eyebrow. "Our?"

"By offering such a valuable prize, Brejik hopes to win the loyalty of some of the smaller gangs, enough to completely overwhelm me and my followers. We both have something to gain here, and much to lose. So what I propose is this: I sponsor you as a rider for the Hidden Beks. If you or one of our other riders wins, you'll win your friend's freedom."

"And you're just going to do this out of the goodness of your heart?" Carth's tone was cold enough to freeze lava.

"The Beks don't believe in intergalactic slavery. And if you don't believe that, believe that it's in my own best interest to get your friend out of Vulkar hands." Though Carth's expression was still wary, he nodded in acquiescence. "You can stay here until the race. Tomorrow, whichever of you will be riding might want to put in a few practice rounds."

One of the Beks showed them to their room while Mission and Zaalbar stayed behind to chat with some of their friends in the gang.

"Normally we would give you separate rooms, but with everything that's happening right now, space is at a premium. I hope this will serve adequately." At least there were two separate beds as a minimal concession to propriety.

Andra nodded. "I understand. It won't be a problem."

The Republic soldiers dropped their packs with almost identical sighs of relief, and Carth began rummaging through his for shower supplies while Andra watched from her perch on the closer of the two beds. He strode from the room, a towel slung over one shoulder, and Andra decided that after a day of crawling through sewers and fighting Rakhgouls, she could use a shower too.

Ten minutes later, she slipped into her silky lavender nightdress feeling much cleaner than she had before. The door slid open behind her and Carth entered, a dark blue towel wrapped around his waist.

"You like what you see?" he joked when he saw the way her gaze flickered over his half-covered form, but his smile faded when he saw that Andra looked angry rather than amused.

"What do you want from me?" he burst out, flinging his bag of toiletries to the floor in sudden exasperation.

"I want you to apologize for what you said last night, or at the very least explain what I did to deserve that kind of treatment from you."

"You haven't done anything. Not yet, at least. But there's no guarantee you won't in the future. I've been betrayed before and I… well, it won't happen again, that's all."

"So you want some sort of guarantee I won't betray you?"

Carth settled wearily on the bed next to Andra. "I don't know that you'll betray me, but there are no guarantees. Not for you, not for me. You don't have to take it personally."

In a heartbeat Andra had lept from the bed and positioned herself directly in front of Carth, angrily shoving him back toward the mattress. Only afterward did it occur to her that such a move was risky with the precarious position of the towel around his hips. Fortunately, it stayed in place.

"Don't tell me not to take it personally, you hairless Wookie!"

Carth looked up at her, at the angry finger shoved right in his face and the scowl marring her silky smooth skin, and—of all the infuriating things—laughed!

"Hairless Wookie? Alright, sister, just calm down before your head explodes!"

The angry finger moved even closer to his nose. "How dare you tell me to calm down, you ignorant bantha!"

Again, he laughed. "Is that your idea of an insult? Come on, sister, take your best shot!"

"You brainless, lice-ridden Gammorrean pig-man!" _Damn the man, he's _still _laughing!_

"Oh, ouch! I think you hurt my man-feelings with that one."

"Enough," Andra snapped, giving him another shove. "This isn't a laughing matter!"

"Alright, alright," he sighed. "But will you at least let me go first?" She complied and returned to her earlier position next to him. Though she would never have admitted it, getting to yell at him for a while had helped. Just a little. "Look, let me try to explain," he insisted. "You're smart, skilled, and you've been a great help in the mission thus far. But that doesn't mean I'm going to stop watching you or being wary. It's nothing personal; I'd do the same for anyone else."

"But why? What happened to make you feel that way?"

"It's just how I'm conditioned. Sorry."

She twisted to face him, folding her arms across her chest. "I repeat, why?"

"Ah, damn it," he swore. "I suppose I won't get any rest until I talk, will I?" Andra smirked and he shifted back to lean against the wall. "Fine, you want to know why? Here goes. Four years ago, the Jedi had just finished the war against the Mandalorians. Revan and Malak were heroes, but instead of returning in triumph, they disappeared into the Unknown Regions. It was completely unexpected when they turned on us a year later, invading us while we were still weak. Nobody knew what to think, least of all me."

"I know all that. But not everybody took it as personally as you. That tells me there's more to the story."

"You're right," he admitted, staring pensively down at his hands. "Revan and Malak falling to the dark side was bad enough. The ones who turned their backs on the Republic and went with them are even worse. And the ones who stayed loyal to the Republic at first only to change their minds once Revan and Malak started winning are the worst of all. They're out for themselves and nothing more; they deserve no mercy!" The fury in his last words was strong enough to make Andra physically shrink back. _Note to self: Carth Onasi is one person you never want to have angry with you._

"Who, Carth?" she inquired, but the expression on his face told her his moment of vulnerability was over.

"Listen, sister, just because we're working together doesn't mean you get to badger me with constant questions. Isn't there someone else you can harass for a little while?"

"Fine, then," Andra snapped, sliding off the bed and stalking her way toward the door. "I'll leave you alone if that's what you want. Good luck finding Bastila and getting her off the planet."

"Wait," Carth called after her. "I didn't mean it that way. Don't go, damn it," he swore when she still refused to listen. Finally she paused with her hand still on the door, her expression expectant. "Look, I suppose I could use someone to talk to. I'm just not used to it. I don't even know why you care—" _Because you're the best damn kisser I've ever met, that's why _an unrepentant part of Andra's mind answered "—but if you really want to know, here goes." His voice grew quiet enough that she had to move closer in order to hear clearly what he was saying. "Of all the men who started jumping ship once the Republic was losing, the one that stands out for me is the one I respected the most: Saul." The name immediately rang a bell, but Andra refrained from answering until her brain had sorted out why.

"Saul Karath? As in the commander of the entire Sith fleet?"

He nodded once, tightly. "The one and only. I served under him during the Mandalorian Wars… he taught me most of what I know about being a soldier, and I looked up to him. He…" the commander swallowed hard and lowered his gaze, and when he spoke again, his voice was barely more than a whisper. "He came to me before he left, talked about how the Republic was on the losing side and how I should start thinking of my own survival." Andra's mouth opened in a little O, but from the look on his face, she could see that his mind was years as well as light-years away. "Obviously, I know now that he was trying to recruit me into the Sith, but I couldn't have conceived of it then. He was my mentor; he was a hero to me. He couldn't be serious!"

"Only, he was."

Carth nodded again, his lips pressed into a thin line. "He was. We argued, he got angry, and he left. I never saw him again. Three weeks later I woke up just in time to see the first of the Sith bombers sneaking past our defenses. I knew right away what had happened and tried to raise the alarm, but they destroyed half of our docked ships before we could mount any sort of response. Then we found out it was only a diversion for the real attack. And I could have stopped him; I could have stopped it all."

"So that's why you're so distrustful: you blame yourself for trusting your friend."

"I blame Saul, not myself. But I was stupid, and I ignored the danger. I vowed not to let it happen again. And if I ever catch up to him, he will regret what he's done. He will regret it."

Somehow the quiet menace in his voice frightened her far more than any amount of screaming or shouting. _But fair is fair; I asked him to explain and he did. _"Thank you. And… for what it's worth, I'm sorry."

"So am I. I've become so accustomed to expecting the worst in people and you've done nothing to deserve that." He forced a smile. "Well, you asked me to explain and I did. Are we good now?"

"Yeah. Goodnight, Carth." She reached over to hug him, a hug which he returned briefly but with genuine warmth. Or perhaps the warmth she felt was from his well-muscled back against her hands. _It's progress, at least._

"Goodnight, Andra."


	7. Chapter 7

a/n: I apologize for the delay in the update, but, to quote Admiral Ackbar: "Even the most simple voyage can be ended by an unanticipated wave, and the wave affecting us here was titanic in proportions." Just three days after I posted my last chapter, I got a full-time summer job, which has understandably cut into my writing time. I am still committed to continuing this story to the end, but weekly updates are most likely not possible for the duration of the summer. We'll see how things look when school starts back up. And thank you as usual to my beta, Sia. Now, without further ado, I bring you chapter 7.

* * *

Through the mental haze induced by the neural disruptor she wore, Bastila was dimly aware of being moved. From the noise of airspeeders and other vehicles, she could tell they were outside, though her internal time sense wasn't functioning well enough for her to make even a rough estimate of how long they had been traveling. All she had to do was open her eyes to see where they were, but she couldn't summon up the concentration necessary to do so. It occurred to a distant part of her that she probably ought to worry, but she didn't have the will to do that either.

The neural disruptor was quite effective at preventing her from using the Force, but she didn't need the Force to tell her there were a lot of people around. She heard cheering, the clink of footsteps against metal, the unmistakable sound of vehicles moving at a high velocity, and, more than once, explosions. Time passed in a blur, punctuated every so often by the booming of the announcer's voice over the PA as a new rider took to the tracks. She barely even noticed the difference when the announcer began to speak again.

"Ladies and gentlemen, sentients of all genders and species, give a loud cheer for one of the most daring and skilled racers this track has ever seen. I present to you the winner of this year's season opener, Eaton Darnall, riding for the Hidden Beks!" There was a smattering of applause and cheers, then the announcer spoke again. "Here to present the prize, Brejik of the Black Vulkars."

Silence descended for a moment before another male voice broke in. "People, hear me. Before I present the champion of the Beks with his prize, you should know that just two days ago, he, his companion, and two other Beks were seen trespassing inside the Vulkar base, killing more than a dozen of the men there. Because of this Hidden Bek aggression, I am withdrawing the Vulkar's share of the prize."

"Aggression?" a third voice countered. "We saw your Vulkars attack a group of Beks without warning or provocation. I won that race fair and square and I've earned my reward."

"You know the rules, Brejik," the announcer added. "No one is allowed to withdraw a prize once the race is finished. It goes against all our most sacred traditions."

"You old fool!" the Vulkar leader replied scathingly. "Your traditions are nothing to me - I am the wave of the future! If I want to withdraw the prize and sell this woman on the slave market myself, nobody can stop me!"

"I can," a strong female voice disagreed. The woman's voice, and the blazing strength of her presence in the Force, sent a jolt of pure ice water through Bastila's veins even with the neural disruptor, and for a moment, her mind was clear. Summoning up all the discipline her Jedi training had instilled in her, she _pushed_ with the Force and the neural disruptor went flying. For the first time, she was able to survey the scene with open eyes and a focused mind. Brejik stood ahead of her and to the left, his profile turned toward her as he argued with another man… _is that Carth Onasi?_ And directly in front of her, standing with her back turned, was the woman whose presence she had sensed earlier. _The hair and skin tone is right, as is the height and build. So I wasn't just imagining things after all. _But with several Vulkars still aiming weapons at them, there were more important concerns.

"Care to reconsider that plan, Brejik?" she inquired, a taunting smirk on her face. The man paled visibly.

"What? Impossible! You were restrained by a neural disruptor! How could you possibly have found the will to free yourself?"

"You underestimate the strength of a Jedi's mind, Brejik. A mistake you won't live to regret."

A heartbeat of shocked silence followed that declaration, then the whole situation went straight to hell. Brejik drew a wicked-looking double-sided vibrosword and the handful of other Vulkars present also readied their weapons. Bastila rolled out of the way of a blaster bolt, fervently wishing she hadn't lost her lightsaber. As if reading her mind, the other woman shouted, "Catch," and tossed the weapon towards her. _Where in the name of Kashyyyk's night demons did she find that? _The Jedi caught her weapon in a firm Force grip and pulled it straight into her waiting hand. After that, she almost pitied the few Vulkars who were foolish enough to stay and fight.

With the battle over, she had her first chance to take a leisurely look at the pair that had fought alongside her.

"Carth," she greeted the man with a smile. "I'm glad to see you made it out alive. And… Andra." She had to pause a moment to remember the name the olive-skinned woman went by now. "But how did you end up racing for these swoop gangs?"

"To make a long story short, we found out that the Vulkars had captured you and were offering you as a prize. So we decided the best way to rescue you was to win you ourselves, or, failing that, get you back from whoever _did _win you," Andra explained casually.

Bastila had to laugh. "So that's what you were trying to accomplish by riding in the race? Save me? Well, as far as rescue attempts go, this is a pretty poor example. Brejik and his Vulkars would have left you for dead if I hadn't stepped into that fight. In fact, it would be more accurate to say that _I _saved _you._"

"Hey! Carth and I could have taken those Vulkars with or without your help. We can handle ourselves."

"Yes, I suppose you can at that," she allowed. _Mustn't forget who I'm dealing with here_. "Well, I appreciate the attempt anyway, even if it didn't quite work out as planned. But let's get down to business- we need to get out of here before the Sith show up to investigate. Do you have somewhere safe to go?"

Carth nodded. "We've been staying in an apartment in the Upper City. Problem is that last I checked, the lifts all had Sith guards posted at them. Any one of them gets a look at your face and it's over for us."

Andra gave Bastila an assessing glance, then, evidently satisfied with whatever she had seen, removed her backpack. "I think I have an idea. You and I are about the same size, so you should be able to wear this." She opened the pack to reveal a full set of Sith armor. "The helmet will hide your face and I doubt any of the Sith know your voice. As long as we don't use the same lift as we did coming down and we keep your lightsaber hidden in my pack, we should have no trouble… those Upper City guards aren't particularly vigilant about security. Carth, do you still have that map?"

"Yes. The next nearest lift to the Upper City is about a kilometer away."

Bastila strapped the armor on over the tight-fitting leather outfit the Vulkars had stuck her in, then slid the helmet over her head and relinquished her lightsaber back to Andra. "Take good care of it," she warned. "Lead the way, Carth."

As they walked, Bastila found herself watching Andra out of the corner of her eye. Almost of their own volition, her thoughts turned to the moment that had brought them both to this place.

_So far everything had gone according to plan, but time was limited; their small fleet couldn't hold out forever against the superior firepower of the Sith, especially without the benefit of her battle meditation. But victory wasn't the objective. The objective was the figure in armor standing in front of the viewport, watching with apparent dispassion as Bastila cut down the last remaining Sith apprentice._

_ Two of the other Jedi on the strike team moved to flank her, and she could sense the Twi'lek, Lyn, coming up behind. "You cannot win, Revan," she informed the Sith Lord, but Revan merely stepped back into a Soresu ready stance, right hand holding the scarlet lightsaber parallel with the temple while the left was extended toward them in a challenge. Bastila sighed and raised her lightsaber in the two-handed grip of Ataru. _I suppose it was too much to expect a Sith Lord to just surrender without a fight. _She prepared to leap in for the attack, but saw the turbolaser blasts shooting toward them just in time and flipped backwards instead with every ounce of her Force-enhanced strength. She, who had seen the attack coming, barely managed to escape the explosion. Revan, who had been facing away from the window, didn't stand a chance. When the air cleared, Bastila climbed cautiously to her hands and knees and crawled over to where the Dark Lord lay. Gingerly, she removed the mask and felt for a pulse._

Just then, her train of thought was interrupted by a shout from Carth.

"Where'd Andra go? Have you seen her, Bastila?"

Bastila concentrated briefly, stretching out to the Force, and immediately found her. _I could probably find her if she was anywhere on the same planet,_ she reflected just a touch bitterly.

"She's fine, Carth, she just fell behind a little."

He ignored her and took off at a brisk jog back towards where they had come from. With an irritated sigh, Bastila followed.

They found her about a hundred meters back. "What happened?" Carth asked, worry putting a slight edge in his voice.

"I don't know. One second I was walking with you, the next I was having some sort of vision."

"Well, we don't have time to worry about that now. We need to get out of here before the Sith find us. Come on!"

Bastila felt a jolt of fear run through her. _This should not be happening. _She followed after Carth, but resolved to ask Andra about that vision later, in private.

As soon as the door to their apartment slid shut behind them, Carth breathed a sigh of relief.

"We made it. Finally things are starting to look up. Now we just need to figure out a way to get off this planet.

Bastila could hardly believe her ears. "You mean you don't have a plan to get us off Taris yet? What have you been doing all this time?"

"Uh, hello, we were just a little busy figuring out how to even find you. It's not like that was exactly easy," Andra pointed out. Bastila could sense a flash of barely controlled irritation from the woman, but her own anger eclipsed it. _Have I escaped the Vulkars only to be stuck here until the Sith capture me?_

"I see," she said coolly. "Now that I'm back in charge of this mission, perhaps we can start doing things properly. Hopefully our escape from Taris will go more smoothly than when you 'rescued' me from Brejik."

"You think you could have done better?"

"As a matter of fact, I do."

"Maybe so," Andra allowed grudgingly, "but not all of us have the advantage of the Force, so how about you lose the attitude and help us come up with a plan?"

Bastila realized her mouth was hanging open and hastily snapped it shut, though the helmet of the armor she still wore hid her face. _How dare she! _"My attitude? It strikes me that you're the one in sore need of an attitude adjustment. I'm a member of the Jedi Order and a fleet commander for the Republic and I happen to be in charge of this mission, if you'll recall."

The irritation Bastila had felt earlier was now verging on fury, but before Andra could respond, Carth stepped in. "I know you're new at this, Bastila, but a leader doesn't berate her troops just because things aren't going as planned. Don't let your ego get in the way of the real issues here."

_My ego? Why, that little… _"That hardly strikes me as an appropriate way to address your commanding officer, Carth. Or had you forgotten that this is still _my_ mission? My battle meditation has helped the Republic many times in this war and it will serve us well here, I am sure."

"Your talents might have won us a few battles, but that doesn't make you a good leader. A good leader would at least listen to the advice of those who have seen more combat than she ever will."

Andra took a deep breath and Bastila could feel her anger fading. "Okay, I think we all need to take a moment and just calm down. This isn't helping."

Bastila had to admit that the woman had a point. _There is no emotion, there is peace _she recited silently, running through one of the calming exercises that had been drilled into her as a youngling.

"You're right, of course. I apologize, Carth; my captivity by the Vulkars has left me more than a little edgy. Of course I'm happy to listen to any advice you have for me."

Carth flopped down on the couch with an exhausted sigh. "Well, for starters, we can't get hung up on who's in charge. It took all of us working together to get to you, and it's going to take the same sort of teamwork to get us off this planet. The answer is out there, we just have to find it, but 8 at night is not the time to start looking. It's been a long day for all of us."

"Yes, some food and drink and a good night's sleep would be most welcome," Bastila agreed. She began loosening the straps on her borrowed Sith armor, fixing Andra and Carth with a warning glare. "And not a word out of either of you about this ridiculous outfit the Vulkars stuck me in."

"Wouldn't dream of it," Carth replied with a grin. The Padawan peeled off her disguise, stuffing it back in Andra's backpack, and retrieved her lightsaber in the process. She automatically reached to clip it to her belt, then realized she wasn't wearing a belt and let out a grunt of irritation.

"What I would give to have my Jedi robes back. Or anything that isn't this blasted… dancing girl's costume!"

The sound of Andra's laughter drifted back from the bedroom. "You mean you don't want all of Taris to see you like that?"

"Most certainly not!" Bastila answered, setting her lightsaber down on the table with an indignant huff. "I am a Jedi; to parade around the Upper City looking like I belong on a stage in a cantina is beneath my dignity!"

"Alright, alright," Andra chuckled, reappearing in the bedroom doorway with a smile on her face. "Come here, you can borrow some of my clothes."

Despite Bastila's repeated offers to sleep on the couch, Carth insisted on letting her take the second of the apartment's two beds. With Andra sleeping next to her and Carth just outside the door, she felt safer than at any point since she had crashed on Taris. She had only a few moments to wonder at how strange that was before sleep claimed her.

The morning sun streaming through the broad windows of the apartment awakened her somewhat later than usual. She swung herself out of bed and pulled on the tan jumpsuit and tunic Andra had loaned her, then wandered out into the main living area of the apartment. The other two survivors of the Endar Spire were already sitting on the couch eating breakfast and watching a news broadcast on the vidscreen.

"In other news," the announcer was saying, "tensions are rising as the Sith blockade enters its seventh day. Tarisians and off-worlders alike are anxious to see travel resume, but Admiral Karath of the Sith has announced that the quarantine will continue until the search for survivors of the Republic frigate _Endar Spire _has—" Carth snarled and changed the channel, muttering something under his breath that might have been a curse. Though Andra's face was hidden from view by the couch, what Bastila could read of her sense was sad.

"You really hate him, don't you?"

"Wouldn't you in my place?"

Andra nodded. "I suppose I would." For the first time since she had joined the other two Republic survivors, Bastila was acutely aware that they had been together for days before she had come into the picture. There was something about the bond they shared that made her almost… _wistful? No, that can't be true. A Jedi must be free of emotional entanglements; she does not envy others their relationships and attachments._ Except that if she was honest with herself, that was exactly what she was feeling: a hard little knot of envy.

"You do realize, right," Andra was saying, "that we are in no position to fight him right now. The best we can do is escape and live to fight another day. I'm not going to let him have us… any of us," she amended, expanding her statement to include Bastila.

"Yes, well, if the Sith succeed in capturing us, Saul Karath will be the least of our concerns," Bastila pointed out, stepping around the couch to squeeze in next to the other two humans. As Andra scooted over to make room, her hip inadvertently brushed against Carth's and both soldiers jumped at the contact. Through the Force, Bastila sensed a spike of emotion from them. Her upbringing in the Jedi Temple had been sheltered, but not _that_ sheltered. _Andra… and Carth? Why do I have a bad feeling about this…_

Carth flipped off the vidscreen and turned to face more towards his companions as much as he could given the lack of space on the couch. In the process, he had to lay his arm across the back of the couch, practically around Andra's shoulders. To someone trained in the Force, as Bastila was, it was almost literally as if sparks were flying, and she rolled her eyes. _You'd think they were teenagers instead of two adults in their 30s the way they're acting._

"Do try to stay focused on business, you two."

"Hey, I am focused," Carth protested. _Right, _Bastila thought with another roll of her eyes. "Going back to what you said earlier, that's exactly why we need to get out of here—the sooner the better. We've managed to fly under the Sith radar so far, but it won't last forever. We need a plan."

"I don't think we'll make it off Taris on our own. None of us is very familiar with the planet or its people. We're going to need the help of the locals."

Andra and Carth exchanged a speculative look. "You think… Mission?"

"It's as good a place to start as any. She knows the city better than anyone and she's already proven herself trustworthy."

_Okay, now this is getting annoying. _"Would one of you care to inform me who this Mission is and why she can help us?" Bastila snapped, slamming a hand down on the edge of the couch. Andra's eyes widened slightly.

"Oh, that's right, you never did meet her. Mission is the young Twi'lek who helped us enormously while we were searching for you… we couldn't have done it without her."

"She knows the city and its people better than anyone," Carth added. "She herself probably can't get us off Taris, but odds are good she'll know someone who can."

Bastila leaned back against the cushions of the couch, considering. _It's risky, but at this point, any course of action would involve a certain amount of danger. Sometimes you simply have to dive in, do the best you can, and leave the rest to the will of the Force._

"This is an acceptable plan. Do you know where we can find this Mission?"


	8. Chapter 8

A/N: So here it is. Better late than never, right? Thanks as usual to Sia for her help as a beta. And I shouldn't have to say this seeing as how the website is called **fan fiction** .net, but KotOR and its characters belong to Bioware. I'm just borrowing them.

* * *

Taris, 12 hours earlier:

At long last, the means for Andra, Bastila, Carth, and their steadily growing group of companions to escape Taris was in sight. But—par for the course with this mission—there was an obstacle standing in their way, in the form of crime lord Davik Kang and his bounty hunter bodyguard, Calo Nord. The crime lord lay unmoving, a blaster burn charring his violet armor in the center of the back, and Calo was on his back, Bastila's lightsaber almost close enough to sear the skin of his neck. But the bounty hunter wasn't about to surrender.

"You may have me outnumbered and outgunned, but if I'm going down, I'm taking all of you with me."

Andra blanched when she saw what he held in his hand. _A thermal detonator. He wasn't just making idle threats._ Before he could activate it, though, they heard the boom of a turbolaser blast and suddenly a large chunk of the ceiling collapsed. Andra and Bastila, standing, barely managed to dive out of the way. Calo, lying on his back, didn't stand a chance.

"Damn it," Carth swore, ducking more falling debris as he scrambled towards the _Ebon Hawk_. Andra and Bastila were also moving in that direction, followed closely by Canderous Ordo, the Mandalorian mercenary who had agreed to help them steal the Ebon Hawk in exchange for the chance to escape Taris. The loading ramp hadn't even closed behind them yet when Carth threw himself into the pilot's chair, his hands already flying over the controls.

A fresh explosion shook the hangar and Andra doubled over, clutching at the back of one of the two passenger chairs in the cockpit as a wave of pure agony assailed her. Carth fought to keep the ship steady as it rose on its repulsorlifts, then fed full power to the sublight engines and sent it hurtling out into the rain of destruction. The sudden acceleration broke Andra's relatively weak grip on the chair and she went flying backwards to smack against the wall.

"Andra!" Carth cried, but he didn't dare take even the slightest bit of concentration away from maneuvering the _Ebon Hawk _around the hail of turbolaser fire bombarding Taris. Bastila turned to look and through her own tears saw the ensign curled up on the floor, clutching a hand to her chest.

"I… feel… it," was all she could manage to force out between gasps of air. Bastila caught her in a firm Force grip so she at least wouldn't be tossed around every time the ship changed direction and hit the button for the ship's intercom, forcing a steadiness in her voice that belied the tears still streaming down her cheeks.

"Canderous, I need to you stand ready at the gun turrets in case we need to hold off pursuit."

A gruff acknowledgement came back, followed by the metallic clunk of boots hitting the floor of the ship. Bastila then switched to the sublight comm.

"Mission, can you hear me? I need you and Zaalbar to meet us on the platform outside the apartment.

"You got it," the spunky young Twi'lek answered immediately.

With a great deal of skillful piloting, Carth managed to bring them in for a landing on the platform. Mission and Zaalbar sprinted aboard, then the Republic pilot sent the _Hawk_ screaming for space at an angle that cast doubt on the existence of gravity. A clatter sounded from the cargo hold, followed by a Wookie roar and some most creative swearing in Twi'leki. Blasts continued to rain down around them, but thanks to Carth's piloting skill, none of them came within a meter of hitting their ship. As they cleared the atmosphere, half a squadron of Sith interceptors swooped in on their tail, and the Leviathan itself also began moving in their wake. Andra, who had recovered enough to strap herself into one of the passenger chairs, could see on the sensor board that the Interdictor ship was preparing to power up its gravity well projectors, and as Canderous began returning fire against the fighters from the _Ebon Hawk_'s gun turret, she made a few mental calculations. Time for the Interdictor to bring its projectors to bear, time for them to get far enough from Taris to make the jump to hyperspace… _it's going to be very, very close._

The _Ebon Hawk_, present:

Andra woke with a start in her narrow bunk aboard Davik's former ship, smacking a hand against the wall in the process.

"Oww," she muttered, sucking on her knuckles. _Okay, calm down, it was just a dream. You're safe in hyperspace on the way to the Jedi academy on Dantooine._ Still, it took her several minutes to calm her racing heart. Afterwards, she felt her way cautiously toward the door and stepped into the dimly lit hallway of the ship, wrapped in the silky blue robe Carth had bought her to sleep in. As she wandered the ship, a sliver of light coming from under the doorway to the cockpit caught her eye. When she entered, a familiar brown-haired head peeked up above the pilot's chair.

"Hi, Carth," she greeted him quietly.

"Hi. You feeling any better? You had me scared after what happened earlier."

Andra lowered herself wearily into the copilot's seat. "I am, thank you, though I still didn't sleep that well. I don't know how to describe what happened… it was like I could literally feel the pain of all those people dying on Taris. Bastila says it's a Force thing."

"I'm no Jedi but it was bad enough even without any Force thing going on," Carth agreed sympathetically, rubbing his hands wearily across his face before laying them on the control panel. Andra tentatively reached out and laid a hand on top of his.

"This must bring back memories for you, huh?"

"Yeah." The two sat in silence for a while, hand in hand, each simply grateful to know they did not have to face the hurt alone. Andra found herself slipping back into memories… Mission's sobs once the adrenaline of their escape had faded, the sense of millions, billions, of voices crying out in anguish and terror, and the sound of Carth's voice as he pulled the lever to send them into hyperspace.

"That's two you owe me now, Saul." The memory brought her abruptly back to the present, and she stole a glance at the man in the pilot's chair. He seemed to be in an unusually… open… mood at the moment. _Might I actually get an answer out of him if I ask right now? Or would he just bite my head off again?_

"Uh… Carth?"

"Yes? What's on your mind?"

"I… uh… wanted to ask you something."

Carth pivoted his chair to face her, his expression still neutral. "Sure, go ahead."

"What you said earlier. 'That's two you owe me now'… Saul was the one who led the bombardment of Telos, wasn't he?" Despite the phrasing, it wasn't a question. Carth slumped in his chair with a sigh, resting his head in his hands.

"I suppose it was too much to expect you to forget about that. So fine… yes, it was him. But you already figured that out. What do you really want to know?"

"You never answered the question I asked you that first evening back in the apartment. Did you have family on Telos?"

He nodded curtly, his face an expressionless mask. "A wife and a 12-year-old son. I thought they would be safe… I had no idea. When I got the distress call, I brought my task force as fast as I could, but we were too late. The planet was in ruins, the dead and dying were everywhere. We didn't have enough medical supplies or personnel to help everyone." Andra rose silently from her chair and knelt beside Carth, wrapping an arm around his shoulder, but he didn't stir. When he spoke again, his voice was barely recognizable. "I…" He cleared his throat and she saw his Adam's apple bob as he swallowed. "I remember like it was yesterday holding my wife and screaming for the medics but they… she…" He shook his head, his eyes bright with tears.

"I'm so sorry!" Andra breathed. _No wonder he hates Saul so much! _She shifted so that she was in front of him now and spread her arms, offering an embrace, but he shook his head.

"Don't."

_What? Why? _Andra wondered, then the answer hit her in a flash of memory. _Nighttime in an apartment on Taris. Carth, in order to keep up the pretense that they were a couple, leaning in for a kiss… only to push her away suddenly when they started to enjoy themselves too much._ She settled for simply laying a hand on his shoulder instead. "I understand. What was she like, your wife?"

"Her name was Morgana. She was stubborn, and she had courage." He smiled weakly. "A lot like you in that way. I could never talk her out of anything once she had made up her mind…"

"What about your son? You never said what happened to him."

"I still don't know. We never found him during our search for survivors; with the state the colony was in, a lot of people were missing and the only one who might have known where he went… well, she wasn't exactly in any condition to tell me," he finished in a choked whisper. "I made inquiries, pulled every string I still had with the Telos Security Force and followed the reports for over a year, but they never found anything and eventually… I stopped. I can only assume that he died too."

Andra settled for giving his shoulder a little squeeze. _Words right now would just be horridly inadequate._

"Anyway," Carth continued, shaking his head slightly as the unreadable mask returned to his features, "I had nothing left after that, really. Saul took it all, even my trust. I threw myself into my job; hunting Saul became my only purpose.

"Thank you… for trusting me enough to share that when you had every right to tell me off for prying."

"No, I don't mind. You deserved to know the whole story." He stood to look her in the eye. "I miss them. And I know killing Saul won't bring them back, and it won't make me happy again, but I have to do it anyway, I have to pay him back for what he did. It's the only thing I have left. I don't expect you to understand."

"You're right, I can't fully understand what you've been through, but I can be there for you if you need a shoulder, or just a listening ear."

"Andra…"

"Carth, it's not betraying your wife just to have a friend, to try to find a little happiness, or at least some peace! You don't have to go through life alone."

"I… alright, you have a point." he allowed finally. "I've never talked about this before to anyone. I suppose it's time I finally did. Thanks."

"Anytime."

Bastila was the next to make an appearance, emerging from the unofficially designated women's quarters a couple hours later with every chocolate-brown hair on her head perfectly in place. Her bangs were brushed back and held out of her face by a clip, the rest was styled in two low pigtails.

"Good morning," she greeted the other two in her Coruscanti accent. "I trust you slept well?"

"You'd trust wrong," Carth grumbled. "How can you say that after what just happened?"

Bastila ducked her head and Andra could almost swear she saw her blush. "I apologize. I forgot this is somewhat more personal for you. And how did you sleep, Andra?"

The older woman stifled a yawn. "Not much better than Carth, to be perfectly honest. The nightmares kept me up."

Bastila nodded. "You felt the disturbance in the Force very strongly, so it is understandable that your sleep would be troubled. I know of some Jedi meditation techniques that may help… if you wish, and the nightmares are still troubling you by the time we reach Dantooine—"

"We've been over this before, Bastila; I'm still not convinced you're right about me being Force-sensitive."

"Then what exactly do you think happened to you when we were leaving Taris? Besides, what makes you think that you, who know nothing at all about the Force, would have any idea whether a person is or is not Force-sensitive?" Andra opened her mouth to protest, but Bastila shook her head. "It isn't important right now. I thought we should talk while it's still just the three of us up here. About what will happen with our companions when we reach Dantooine."

"True," Carth observed. "We never exactly discussed with Canderous who was going to keep the ship once we got off Taris. But it should work out fine either way. If he ends up keeping it, the Republic can send someone to pick us up once we know where we're going next. And if we keep it… well, the man is resourceful. He'll have no trouble finding work and getting wherever he needs to be."

"Mission, though…" A worried frown creased Andra's face. "She said it herself when she asked to come with us: she essentially has no one aside from Zaalbar and her brother. That's doubly true now that Taris is gone and Force only knows where Griff might be.

"What about my brother?"

Almost as one, three heads turned to stare at the blue-skinned Twi'lek standing in the doorway of the cockpit. Bastila tried with only partial success to hide her guilty expression.

"Nothing. We were wondering if you had given any thought to where you were planning to go now that we're off Taris. If you wish, we could arrange transport for you and Zaalbar anywhere—"

The Twi'lek put her hands on her hips in a classic indignant teenager pose. "Hey, don't treat me like I'm some little girl. 'Cause I'm not; I'm fourteen years old and I know how to take care of myself."

Carth and Andra exchanged identical amused glances. _Teenagers_.

"Mission, that's exactly the point," Carth explained gently. "At fourteen you feel a lot more grown-up than you are. And I know you've had to mature faster than most people your age, but even so, a few years from now you're going to laugh when you look back on this."

"Hey!" Mission exclaimed with an indignant flick of her lekku. "You're not my father, though you're sure old enough to be. So keep your lectures inside your withered old head 'cause I don't need them."

"And I sure as hell don't need this," he retorted, slamming a fist down on the instrument panel safely away from the hyperspace controls. "You think you're so grown-up; it's awfully childish of you to turn away help when it's offered. But we've got more important things to worry about than what you choose to do; we still have a war to fight."

"Alright, you've made your point. The truth is, I don't know. I hadn't thought that far. I just knew that I wanted to get away from all the prejudice and the gang wars on Taris and I had this crazy idea…" She blushed, and Andra almost felt sorry for the teenager when she saw the merciless stare Carth was giving her. "Okay, okay! Like I said, it's crazy, but I thought that maybe, just maybe, I might find my brother, or at least find out what happened to him."

Bastila paused for a moment, leaning against the wall as she considered. "I suppose we don't need to make a decision right now, at any rate. We have another day and a half until we reach Dantooine and even then it will likely take some time to decide our next step.

That day and a half seemed at least twice as long to Andra in the quiet of hyperspace. _Note to self: we need to get more entertainment for these long trips. _Mission spent most of the time poking her nose into every corner of the ship, uncovering a number of interesting little features, including a code-locked secret compartment and a collection of toys evidently meant for amusing himself with his slaves that made even Canderous blush. For his part, the Mandalorian occupied himself tinkering with his armor and the light repeating blaster carbine he favored. Zaalbar played Pazaak with Mission whenever the Twi'lek got tired of exploring and spent the rest of the time with T3-M4, the little astromech droid Canderous had procured to help them break into the Sith base on Taris. Bastila, meanwhile, was hardly seen outside her quarters except at mealtimes. Meditating, she said to anyone who asked.

Finally Andra felt the unmistakable deceleration of a ship dropping out of hyperspace, followed a few seconds later by Carth's voice over the intercom. "We're coming up on Dantooine. Anyone wants to watch the approach, you should come to the cockpit now."

Bastila appropriated the copilot's seat and the other four crowded in behind.

"Dantooine…" the Jedi announced, more to herself than anyone else. From her spot directly behind the copilot's chair, Andra did not have a good view of the young woman's face, but her voice sounded pensive. "It seems like a lifetime since I was here last, though in truth it has been less than a year."

"It's beautiful!" Mission exclaimed, staring wide-eyed at the blue-green sphere as it grew in the viewport, soon close enough for the outlines of the planet's three major continents to be clear.

"Eh, too boring," Canderous replied with a dismissive wave of his hand. "Nothing on this planet but farmers and a bunch of wimpy Jedi." A muscle in Bastila's jaw twitched dangerously, and Andra thought she heard the other woman mutter something under her breath, but the Padawan did not respond to the insult, reaching instead for the comm controls.

"This is Padawan Bastila Shan aboard the Ebon Hawk, requesting permission to land."

"Permission granted," the voice on the other end came back immediately. "Transmitting your approach vector." The vector took them over a portion of the southern continent and onto the equatorial continent, to where the slightly off-white walls of the Jedi Academy rose from amidst the lavender and gold grasses. Carth brought the _Hawk_ in to a smooth landing at one of the enclave's landing pads and no sooner had he powered down the repulsorlifts than Bastila strode purposefully toward the loading ramp.

"Hey, where are you going?" Carth called after her.

"I must speak with the Jedi Council immediately. I need their advice on… recent events." With that, she hit the switch to lower the ramp and proceeded to hurry down it as fast as her Jedi dignity would allow her.

Andra watched her go with raised eyebrows. "Wouldn't I love to be a mace fly on _that _wall."

"I hate the Jedi and their damn secrecy," Carth grumbled, running through the rest of the ship's power-down sequence a bit more forcefully than necessary. "Come on, let's get out of here."

It was midafternoon local time and the two humans had to shield their eyes against the sudden flood of light as they stepped out onto the landing pad. Once she adjusted, Andra lowered her hand and took her first good look at her surroundings. The stone walls surrounding the landing pad were covered in vines, and framing the hallway that led to the rest of the academy were a pair of short, gnarled trees. _Not bad_, she approved silently. _The Jedi know how to make good use of the natural beauty of this world. _She drew a deep breath, relishing the smell of fresh air after nearly two days breathing the recycled air of the _Ebon Hawk_.

"So what should we do while waiting for Bastila to finish with the Council?"

"Well, it is nearly time for dinner. You hungry?"

They were still working on their meal of Iriaz meat with a side of local grains and vegetables when Bastila appeared in the doorway of the mess hall, now dressed in the same tan robes that the other Jedi wore. She beckoned and the two soldiers reluctantly set down their utensils to see what she wanted.

"I have spoken briefly with the Jedi Council," she informed them. "They would like to speak with you, Andra."

Carth's eyes narrowed. "The Council is requesting an audience with someone who isn't even a Jedi? What's going on, Bastila?"

"I'm sorry, Carth, but I can't tell you. I can only ask that you trust in the Force and the wisdom of the Council."

Andra turned to glance at the pilot, her shoulders shaking with barely controlled laughter. The look he gave her in return held a touch of resigned amusement.

"Quiet, you. I thought we agreed we weren't going to argue about that anymore."

"I never said anything," she protested in her most artfully innocent tone.

Bastila looked from one soldier to the other, and the annoyance on her face only made Andra's grin widen. "I seem to be missing something here."

"Just a little dispute we had while we were looking for you on Taris," Carth explained. "I don't like being kept out of the loop, but I'm not looking to get you in any trouble with the Jedi Masters. Lead the way."

Their path took them through several hallways, well-lit by a series of glow panels angling up from the walls, and a couple of the open-air courtyards that connected the various buildings of the academy complex. In the courtyard just outside the Council chambers, they were stopped by a brown-haired young Jedi who placed herself directly in Andra's path.

"You there, why are you not wearing your robes? Do you mock the honored traditions of the Jedi Order?"

Andra shoved the woman away from her. "Back off, I'm no Jedi. I'm just here with Bastila."

The Jedi and the Padawan exchanged brief nods of greeting. "A pleasure to see you again, Padawan Bastila. As for you, you claim you are not a member of the Order? I find that hard to believe. The Force is strong with you; I can feel its presence."

"She is not," Bastila confirmed before Andra could open her mouth to deliver an angry retort. "Now, if you will excuse us, Belaya, we have an audience with the Council."

"Of course," the other Jedi agreed, stepping out of their path. "I apologize for the misunderstanding. Have a pleasant stay here on Dantooine and may the Force be with you."

The circular room where the Council met was vast, far larger than necessary for the six individuals that currently occupied it. Opposite the entrance, a dozen chairs were arranged along the curve of the wall, though currently only four were occupied. The ones on the far left and far right were taken by humans, one dark skinned and one pale, both at least twice Andra's 33 years of age. Sitting next to the fair-skinned man was a Twi'lek who appeared somewhat younger as far as the soldier was able to judge the age of non-humans. The individual occupying the fourth seat belonged to no species she had ever seen before. He—at least, she thought he was male, though she wasn't entirely certain on that point—had grey skin, huge ears, only a few wisps of white hair, and stood less than a meter tall, but it was he who greeted the younger humans when they came to stand in front of the Council members. He addressed his words first to Andra.

"So you are the one who rescued Bastila. I am pleased to meet you. I am Master Vandar. With me are Master Vrook," he gestured toward the light-skinned man with the receding hairline, "Master Zhar," at this the Twi'lek nodded his head respectfully in her direction, "and Master Dorak, the chronicler of our academy. Bastila you are already familiar with."

The ensign bowed slightly. "An honor to meet you, Masters. I am rather curious as to why you have called me here, however."

"An understandable reaction," Vandar answered her. "Bastila tells us you are strong in the Force. We are considering accepting you for Jedi training."


	9. Chapter 9

a/n: As usual, I have to thank Sia for always being willing to take time away from her own writing to give her feedback on mine. And by the way, if you're reading this just as it's being published, you may want to go back and reread ch. 8 because my muse had a field day when I learned about a certain scene from the KotOR comics and decided she wanted to make some minor but important tweaks.

* * *

Andra's mouth worked silently for several seconds before she finally found her voice again.

"Excuse me?"

"It is extremely rare to find someone with your natural affinity for the Force," Master Dorak explained. "The Order does not normally accept adults for training, but we are considering making an exception in your case."

"No, no, no, I heard quite clearly what you said. I was giving you an opportunity to revise it. Were you even planning to ask me whether I _want_ to be a Jedi? I'm not one of the three-year-olds you usually take from their families; I'm a grown woman with a family, friends, a life, and I have a right to decide for myself if I'm going to give it all up to be a Jedi."

Five pairs of eyes stared at her in horror and Master Vrook scowled.

"Such pride, such arrogance. You see, she is already on the path to the dark side."

"As are many who lack proper guidance," Master Vandar pointed out, giving the other Jedi a warning glance. "As Jedi, it is our responsibility to lead those who have strayed back to the path of the light. We have lost too many of our brothers and sisters to the Sith, or in battle against them, to reject such a promising candidate." Andra cleared her throat pointedly and the Jedi Master let out a short, annoyed breath. "Of course we cannot force you to join us if you don't wish to, but I urge you to think very carefully about this. We need recruits to stand against Malak; with Revan dead…"

"Are you certain Revan is truly dead?" Vrook cut in, radiating anger from every wrinkle on his craggy old face. "What if we undertake to train this one and the Dark Lord should return?"

If Andra thought the room had gone quiet before, it was nothing compared to the absolute stillness that descended then. She replayed Master Vrook's last words over in her mind. _I seem to be missing the logical flow in that statement. What does training me have anything to do with whether or not Revan might return? Unless they think the Dark Lord would come looking for me specifically to turn me to the dark side?_ The mere thought of it was so preposterous she almost wanted to laugh, but Master Vandar was speaking again.

"We should discuss this matter more fully in private. Bastila, you and Andra may leave now. We will summon you when we have reached a decision."

The Padawan gave the Masters a glance of silent protest, but bowed respectfully and exited the room, followed closely by her companion. Outside in the courtyard, Carth stopped his pacing when he heard the door slide open.

"Well?"

"Nothing's been decided yet," Bastila answered, and though she hid it well, Andra thought she detected a hint of annoyance in the Jedi's reply. Carth fell into step beside the two women as they began retracing their path through the halls and courtyards of the academy to return to the _Ebon Hawk_.

"What do you mean, 'nothing's been decided'? Would somebody just tell me what's going on already?"

"That is none of your—"

"Oh, come on, Bastila!" Andra exclaimed, her boot coming down on the flagstone floor of the courtyard with a loud click. "This is getting just a little ridiculous. It's not like he wouldn't find out anyway if it does happen. They want to make me a Jedi."

Carth tripped over the doorjam as the three companions moved out of the courtyard into yet another hallway and nearly stumbled into a gleaming silver protocol droid as it shuffled past.

"You're being serious?" Andra saw his eyes flicker in her direction, then to Bastila. "You're being serious. They're actually talking about making you the oldest candidate in…"

"In point of fact," Bastila informed him primly, "only half a century ago it was not at all unusual for candidates to be accepted well into their late twenties."

"Exactly. That was half a century ago. Since the Great Sith War, they haven't accepted a single student over the age of four. They must be desperate… or there's something going on you're not telling me about." He stopped to study the Jedi through narrowed eyes, well-muscled arms folded across his chest. Her only response was a haughty sniff as she resumed walking.

Just inside the door to the landing pad, they saw Mission chatting amiably with a Twi'lek Jedi. She smiled and waved them over when she saw them enter. "Hi! Haven't seen you around much since we landed… what've you been up to?"

"We were in the mess hall eating. Then we went to speak with the Council… or, at least, they did," Carth amended with a sharp glance at the Jedi and would-be Jedi standing next to him. "They're talking about making Andra one of them."

Mission turned to stare at the olive-skinned woman, eyes wide. "Really? You're going to be a Jedi? Like, with a lightsaber and everything?"

"Mission, being a Jedi is nothing like being an action hero from a tri-dee adventure holo," Bastila informed the teenager haughtily. "There is a tremendous amount of work and training involved and to have the power of the Force at your command is a great responsibility that should not be taken lightly."

Andra almost wanted to smile at how absurd the speech sounded coming from a woman barely out of her teens until she remembered how Bastila had fought against the Vulkars. _Okay, so she's every bit as good as she thinks she is. That still doesn't give her the right to walk around with her nose in the air all the time._

"Enough, Bastila. Mission… first of all, the Council isn't entirely certain yet that they want to make the offer. Second, even if they do, I never said I was going to accept." Bastila gave her a questioning look, but the ensign shook her head, then smiled. "I'm glad _someone_ thinks it's exciting, though."

Later that evening, when everyone except Mission and Andra had already gone to sleep, the Twi'lek and the human woman sat across from each other at a table in the _Ebon Hawk_'s central living space, pretending to be engrossed in the teenager's attempt to teach the older woman the finer points of cheating at Pazaak. Mission set the main deck down on the table, then gathered up the ten card chips that comprised her side deck and selected four.

"So… you're really gonna tell the Council no? Most people would pay to be in your boots right now."

Andra studied the four chips from her own side deck spread out in front of her. "Like I said, I haven't made up my mind yet. But Bastila has been telling me a little about a Jedi's life and she was right: it is hard. Once you join the Order, you give up all attachments. Personal belongings, family ties… love."

Mission smirked and flipped over her first card. The two of flasks. "So _that's _what this is about? You don't want to have to stop seeing Carth?"

Andra took a card to cover her blush and drew the five of flasks. "It's not like that with us, honestly."

Mission was still smirking as the seven of sabres joined the two of flasks in her hand.

"Suuuuuuure it's not. You're such a bad liar, Andra."

"No, you don't understand." Andra glanced around the room to make sure they were alone and lowered her voice. "It's not that I don't find him attractive in that way, because, just between the two of us, I do. But he lost his wife on Telos two years ago and it's going to take time for him to move past that, if he even can." She picked up another card chip—the ten of sabres, she noticed—and added a +5 from her side deck to reach 20. "Pure Pazaak, by the way."

Mission drew the 9 of flasks and added a +2 to match Andra's total. "Looks like this one's a draw."

"Looks like," Andra agreed, sweeping up the card chips. "And by the way, Carth would kill me if he knew what I just told you, so do us both a favor and keep it to yourself, alright?"

"Deal." Mission took the cards and padded off quietly toward the refresher. The human woman followed, but it was a while until her thoughts calmed enough for her to sleep.

Her sleep was again troubled, but not by images of Taris this time.

_She stood inside a stone room decorated with unfamiliar glyphs and patterns, pacing back and forth in front of the door that was all that stood between her and the reason she had come to this place. Waiting just outside the path traced by the heavy tread of her armored boots was her apprentice, following her just as faithfully now as he ever had._

_ "The dark side is strong in this place. I can feel its power," he announced just as her footsteps carried her to within a foot of him. She paused, her gaze sweeping briefly over him before she turned and strode with renewed purpose toward the door._

_ "Is this wise?" Malak asked, a note of trepidation in his deep baritone voice. "The ancient Jedi sealed this ruin. If we pass beyond this door, we can never go back. The Order will surely banish us." By way of answer, the cloaked and armored figure merely stretched out to the Force and, with a wave of the hand, sent the door sliding ponderously open. "Are the secrets of the Star Forge so valuable? Can its power truly be worth the risk?" Beyond the door, an ancient holoprojector flickered to life, and without hesitation she stepped forward._

When she woke, it took her a moment to remember who and where she was: not the cloaked and masked figure from her dream pacing inside of an ancient ruin—she refused to actually say the name Revan even inside her own head—but Andra Gelan, Ensign in the Republic fleet. _And soon-to-be Jedi apprentice if Bastila and the Council have their way _she added with a touch of resignation. _I'm sure she'd have a field day if she knew about my dream._ The Padawan's bed was empty, however, the sheets just as carefully smoothed and folded back as they ever were. In the third bunk, Mission was still sound asleep, the sheets twisted around her blue legs.

Out in the living area, Carth was sitting with a cup of caf and a plate of fruit with a few hard-boiled eggs of some local avian species.

"There's more in the pot if you want some," he said, indicating the caf. "Brewed fresh just half an hour ago. You look like you could use it." He shook his head. "I swear this morning's getting stranger by the minute. First Bastila comes out looking like she saw a ghost and goes tearing off to speak with the Council, not even stopping for a bite to eat. Now you come out looking just as pale. What happened?"

The younger soldier went to pour herself a generous cup of caf, then sat down across from the commander. In the light of day, with the aroma of the caf filling her nose and dispelling the last traces of sleepiness, it was much easier to be nonchalant about her nighttime visions. "I had a rough night is all."

Carth reached across the table to give her hand a sympathetic squeeze. "Can't say I blame you. Here I thought things would get better now that we're safe on Dantooine. Oh, I almost forgot; Bastila told you to come meet her in the Council chambers as soon as you were ready."

"She did?" Andra asked, her eyebrows shooting up. Carth nodded.

"But not until you're ready. Come on, eat up; it won't do you any good if you pass out in the middle of the meeting."

With every bite she took, her nervousness grew. _They're going to want my answer. I'm not ready for this, but I have to be. What do I tell them? It's not so much that I feel like I'd be giving up my freedom. I already take orders from the Admirals; taking orders from the Council wouldn't be that different. And I'm not afraid of the training, no matter how grueling it's supposed to be. But attachments are part of what makes us human. I don't know if I _could _give that up, never mind want to. And if I did, who would I be? Just look at Bastila and the Council: all coldness and arrogance. Would I become like that? I like being me, stubbornness and temper and all. But Master Vandar said they desperately needed Jedi. And what in the name of the Force is up with that dream anyway? _Indecision wracked her, and her stomach began to rather vehemently protest her attempts to fill it until finally she flung her fork down on the table in disgust.

"Forget it; I won't be able to eat a thing until I get this over with." She picked up her plate and set it in the cooling unit to keep for later. _That is, assuming Zaalbar doesn't eat it all before I get the chance._ A weak chuckle relieved some of the tension that had begun to work its way through every muscle of her body and gave her the courage she needed to step out of the entrance hatch into the early morning light.

The protocol droid admitted her to the Council chambers with a stiff little bow. In the dozen seats set between two native Dantooine trees, the Council members sat arrayed just as they had the day before. Once again, it was Master Vandar who spoke first.

"Bastila tells us of a most unusual development. She says that you and she have shared a dream, a vision of Revan and Malak in the ancient ruins here on Dantooine."

Andra could have sworn her heart skipped a beat just then. "Wait, what? How did you know about my dream, Bastila?"

"Were you not listening to what Master Vandar just said? We shared the vision. I saw everything you did, and I could sense your presence in the dream."

"When Bastila described the dream to us, I recognized the location as part of a series of ruins not far from this academy," Master Dorak added. "We believed them to be merely burial mounds, but it seems they are more than we first suspected if Revan and Malak found something of importance there."

The soldier directed a puzzled frown at the Council. "I'm still not sure I understand how Bastila and I shared this… vision, if that is indeed what it was."

This time it was Master Zhar who leaned forward slightly in his seat to explain. "You and Bastila share a powerful connection to the Force, and each other. Such bonds are not unheard of; they often form between Master and student, but rarely does one develop so quickly. Whatever the case may be, we cannot ignore the destiny that has brought the two of you here. Together."

"What is that supposed to mean?"

"It is more than just your minds that are linked," Vandar explained. "Your fates are also joined by this bond. It was the will of the Force that you, and no others, be given this vision of the Dark Lords. We believe it may be our only hope of stopping the Sith. Therefore the Council is assigning you and Bastila to investigate these ruins you saw."

Master Vrook had been sitting in dour silence, but chose that point to enter the conversation. "They are a place of corruption, however; the dark side is strong there. If you are to go, you must be trained in the ways of the Jedi first or you are doomed to fall."

Master Vandar slid only slightly awkwardly from his too-tall seat and stepped forward to offer her his hand. The knot of fear nestled firmly in Andra's stomach gave an extra painful twist. _Oh Sithspawn, this is it._

"Therefore, on behalf of the Dantooine Council, it is my honor to offer you a place within the Jedi Order. Do you accept?"

Every muscle in the ensign's body seemed to freeze at once. She remembered the bits and pieces of information about Jedi life she had picked up from Bastila in the five days since the swoop race. _How could I possibly _consider _saying yes when I know exactly how high the price will be? _Then she thought of the gleam of unshed tears in Carth's eyes as he spoke of the family he lost on Telos, the suffering that had nearly overwhelmed her as she watched Taris burn. _How could I consider saying no when agreeing might mean I can prevent anyone else from having to suffer that kind of pain?_ She had to swallow twice before her throat was moist enough for her to speak.

"Yes."

The diminutive Master nodded in satisfaction. "Excellent. Then we must begin your training at once; there is no time to lose. Master Zhar will be your teacher."


	10. Chapter 10

A/n: Well, here you are, and in record time at that. Carth sort of assumed direct control of the chapter. Thanks as usual to Sia for her input. And remember that if you like this story, I owe it all to Bioware for creating KotOR in the first place.

* * *

A few minutes later the new apprentice and the Twi'lek Jedi Master sat across from each other on the floor of one of the academy s training rooms. Bastila leaned against the wall, watching the exercise.

"Before you can learn to manipulate the Force, you must first learn to feel it," Master Zhar was explaining. "So to begin, I would like you to close your eyes, try to ignore your physical surroundings. Feel the invisible web that binds all living things, everything in existence, together. You, me, Bastila, the other students at the academy, the settlers on their farms, the iriaz and the Kath hounds even the trees that grace our courtyards. All a part of the Living Force."

As he spoke, Andra obediently let her eyes drift closed and began to take slow, even breaths, almost as if she were trying to fall asleep. The more her mind relaxed, the more she felt it: a tingle of energy, almost as if there was an electric charge just millimeters away from her skin. It disappeared the moment she tried to concentrate on it and she opened her eyes with a strangled groan of frustration.

"For a moment there I thought I sensed something, but then it was gone."

"Don't worry; it will come more easily with time. Try again, and remember, don't push at it. You must open your mind, surrender yourself to the Force. Only then will you feel its power.

There was no mistaking the feeling when, nearly an hour later, she finally succeeded. It was like a tidal wave crashed over her, but in the best possible way. It was the sound of her little sister's laugh and the memory of her mother's smile, the smell of the ocean where she and her friend Rosheen had spent so many enjoyable hours and the feel of Carth's lips moving against hers. It was everything good and right and beautiful in the world and in that moment all of her selfish doubts and fears evaporated like mist in the noonday sun. _If this changes me, it will be for the better_. With the Force flowing through her, she could sense what was going on in the room almost as clearly as if seeing it with her eyes: the way Bastila fidgeted uncomfortably from spending so long on her feet, Master Zhar's almost unnatural stillness, even the occasional flicker of an unfamiliar presence as other Jedi passed by the room. After that, it seemed almost anticlimactic to open her eyes and see the same bare stone walls she had staring at all along. Her mouth opened and closed several times as words tried and failed to surface. Finally she just gave up. _It's really too personal an experience to share anyway._

Master Zhar smiled. "Congratulations, apprentice. You have taken your first step into a larger world."

_It may have been a first step_, Andra reflected later that week, _but only the first in a journey of many kilometers_. Sensing the Force had become second nature to her, but no longer was it enough simply to sense it. Her new teacher put her through a seemingly endless series of exercises meant to increase the range and sensitivity of her Force perception. When he gave her a break from that, it was only to allow her time to work with the training lightsaber the Council had provided. At the end of the day, she was mentally, if not physically, exhausted and collapsed into bed with barely enough energy to wonder what her companions were doing, whether Canderous had found work yet, if Mission was still stirring up trouble at the Academy or had she and Zaalbar already left in search of somewhere more exciting to call home? Would the Republic be sending Carth back to the front lines soon? About the only benefit she saw in the intensity of her training was that she was far too tired to suffer from any more nightmares.

The majority of the time she trained alone, or with Bastila as a partner, but occasionally she would sit in on a lesson with the younger students. One such instance was on the seventh day of her training when she attended a talk Master Dorak was giving on the recent history of the Order. The children listened with rapt attention while Andra huddled at the back of the group, trying fervently not to draw any more attention to herself than her age already did.

"As chronicler of the academy on Dantooine, it is my duty to share the history of our order with the newly initiated. Unfortunately our recent history has been far from happy. The Mandalorian Wars, the fall of Revan and Malak and the rise of the Sith but there are lessons to be learned from these events if we wish to keep them from happening again. To tell you the whole history of our Order would take far too long; we are older even than the Republic itself. Instead, I will begin forty years ago with the Great Sith War. Exar Kun and Ulic Qel-Droma were Jedi who fell to the dark side, leading a combined army of dark Jedi and Mandalorians against the Republic. The Republic, with the aid of the Order, eventually defeated him, but at great cost. A quarter of the inhabited planets were in ruins, and thousands of Jedi died in the war. For decades afterwards, the Republic struggled to rebuild. While the Republic rebuilt, however, the Mandalorians began conquering small worlds on the Outer Rim. Always worlds that were not part of the Republic, so as not to provoke a response before they were ready. Even so, there were some who felt the Republic needed to intervene, but after much debate, the Senate decided that as long as the Mandalorians avoided attacking Republic worlds, there would be no retaliation. The Republic simply wasn't ready for another war so soon after the last."

"But we ended up in a war anyway," a youthful voice piped up from towards the front of the room.  
"Yes, Lani, we did," Master Dorak agreed, directing a fond smile at the little girl. The smile disappeared as he began to speak again. "Seven years ago the Mandalorians attacked three different sectors of Republic space at the same time, and at that point the Senate had no choice but to retaliate with the full might of the Republic. Still, they lost battle after battle until finally, in desperation, they turned to the Order for aid."

"And the Council said no." The sense of his presence had come just a few seconds before the familiar tenor voice, and Andra knew that if she turned around, she would see Carth Onasi standing in the doorway.

"Yes, Commander Onasi," the older man acknowledged. "We refused. There were many factors to consider before we could allow ourselves to be drawn into another conflict when we were still weakened from battling Exar Kun and his army." He continued the story, more for the benefit of his original audience rather than Carth, who had lived through it and knew full well what had happened next. "But some among the order believed there was no time for leisurely debate. Two young Knights in particular, Revan and Malak, demanded immediate action. Charismatic and powerful, it was inevitable that many of the Order would flock to Revan's seemingly noble cause. Among them were many of our best and brightest, intent on saving the galaxy from the Mandalorian threat. In direct defiance of the Council's orders, they joined the Republic fleet battling the Mandalorians."

"And we would never have won the war without them," Carth retorted, having crossed to take a seat next to Andra while the Jedi Master was speaking. "Revan was a better strategist than most of our admirals even and Malak was a holy terror on the battlefield. They were heroes until they fell to the dark side."

The dark-skinned Jedi nodded in agreement. "Until they fell to the dark side." Again, his explanation was intended primarily for the benefit of the younglings seated on the floor around him. "No one knows what happened out there on the Outer Rim but when the war ended four years ago, instead of returning in triumph, Revan and Malak took the ships under their command deep into unexplored space. They claimed to be searching for the last remnants of the Mandalorian fleet. All contact was lost, though there were reports of Revan and Malak being seen on several planets during those months- unsubstantiated rumors that were never confirmed. Then, a year after they disappeared, they returned at the head of a massive invasion fleet. Revan and Malak had assumed the title of Sith Lords; the heroes had become conquerors. For two years, they were almost unstoppable; only Padawan Bastila's talent with Battle Meditation kept the Sith from total victory. In desperation, we set a trap for the Dark Lord. Bastila led a small strike team in boarding Revan's ship; as some of you may already know, she was there at the Dark Lord's end. That was nearly a year ago, but we are no closer to winning the war now than we were then. Malak is by no means his master's equal in tactical thinking, but he continues to overwhelm us with sheer numbers."

"So, what are we supposed to learn from this?" a young Bothan apprentice questioned. "You said that there were lessons to learn from this story so that it doesn't happen again. What is the lesson?"

"The lesson, young Drest, is that even the greatest of Jedi can fall to the dark side. You must be constantly on guard against the evil that dwells within you. Think hard upon this, apprentices." With that, the group was dismissed, and Andra turned immediately to face Carth.

"What are you doing here?" she hissed as they rose to their feet and exited the room ahead of the other apprentices.

"I thought we might get a bite to eat together. I've hardly seen or heard from you since you left to meet with the Council and never came back."

Her expression softened. "Oh. I'm sorry about that; my training has been keeping me busy from sunup to sundown, and when I do get a couple hours free time I've been too tired to feel like doing much of anything. I didn't mean to make you think I was ignoring you or something."

"It's okay. So do you want to get lunch?"

"Sure. No matter how hard they work me the rest of the time, they have to let me eat, right?" she joked, a smile twitching at the corners of her mouth. _I haven't smiled in... well, not since before I started training, as a matter of fact. I've been spending too much time among Jedi._

"So how is the training going, anyway?" Carth asked once they were seated in the mess hall. "Bastila has been very closemouthed whenever I've spoken with her."

"Like I said, it s exhausting. Mentally, certainly, and physically too sometimes. So far we've been focusing mainly on more passive things, using the Force to enhance the body's natural abilities. Memory, senses, physical strength and a few other things as well, like being able to sense nearby life forms or anticipate and react to attacks before they actually happen. But Master Zhar assures me that I am making excellent progress. He says he may start teaching me more active applications of the Force as early as tomorrow."

"Well, I'm glad the training is going well. Carth swallowed another mouthful of food before setting down his fork and fixing her with his most direct stare. But what about you? You had a lot of doubts going into this. Are you happy?"

"As happy as it's possible to be when you're so damn tired!" Carth laughed and even Andra chuckled a little. "No, seriously. Whatever my opinion of the Jedi and their code, feeling the Force is just so right there's no questioning it. It s always been a part of me, I guess, but I m more aware of it now and I can't be sorry about that. If this training is the key to making sure no other planet shares the fate of Telos and Taris, I would gladly go through twice the exhaustion." She took a sip of her water and smiled. "My turn now."

"Huh?"

"You asked me a question; I think it's only fair I get to ask you one in return." The pilot grumbled around his mouthful of nerf burger, but there was no real force behind it.

"I've already told you almost my entire life story; what more could you want to know? I'd rather talk about you for a bit. But ask away."

Andra's smile widened a bit. "Don't worry; it's nothing personal this time. I just wanted to know whether Mission, Zaalbar, and Canderous are still on Dantooine, what they've been doing."

"Oh, they're still around. One of the settlers offered Canderous a fairly substantial reward to deal with some Mandalorians that killed his daughter. I didn't think he'd like the idea of fighting his own people but I guess he thinks that what they've been doing- raiding farms and such- is a disgrace. He actually seems to be enjoying hunting them down. And Mission and Zaalbar have been searching- unsuccessfully so far- for some woman's missing droid. I think it's as much an excuse for them to be out exploring, looking for salvage they can sell, as anything else."

Though her stomach was still growling with hunger, Andra's bowl of noodles sat on the table in front of her, momentarily forgotten. "And what about you? Will the Republic be sending you back to the front lines? Is that why you wanted to see me today? To say goodbye?"

He shook his head. "No, actually. I spoke to Admiral Dodanna and she said the Jedi Council specifically requested that the Ebon Hawk and I remain on Dantooine for the time being. They think they may have need soon for a fast ship and someone to fly her."

The ensign gave thanks just then that her former commanding officer was not a Jedi and could not sense the rush of joy that flooded her at the news. "I'm sure whatever mission they have for you will be interesting," she stammered. "Well, fair is fair. Your turn."

"Thanks for the permission," Carth said in a tone of good-natured sarcasm. "So I told you about my family; what about yours?"

"Well, I grew up on Deralia, as you may have seen on my service record. My father and younger sister are still there; my mother died of blastonecrosis eleven years ago."

There followed one of those typically awkward silences that usually greet such pronouncements. "Oh. I'm sorry."

Andra shook her head a little wearily. "Don't be. It was sad, certainly, but nothing like what happened to your family. We supported each other through the hard times until eventually things got better."

"So how does a girl from a little backwater planet end up serving in the Fleet anyway?"

She shrugged and began working on another bite of noodles. "Same way as a hundred other soldiers, I imagine. I wanted to do my part against the Sith invaders and the Republic was offering pretty generous recruitment incentives. And maybe the girl from a little backwater planet wanted to see what was out there in the big galaxy she'd only heard about secondhand."

He nodded. "You certainly do see a lot of the galaxy in the fleet, though the circumstances aren't always the greatest, particularly during a war. And what did your father-" An insistent beeping from Andra's wrist chrono interrupted his question. The new Jedi started guiltily at the noise.

"Oh shavit! I'm supposed to be meeting Bastila and Master Zhar in five minutes for a sparring session."

"Then you'd better eat fast."

For the rest of the meal, Andra focused exclusively on inhaling her food as quickly as possible. When she finished, she darted off to the sparring room with a hasty promise to Carth that they would do lunch again, and soon.

Though the two Jedi waiting in the section of the Academy devoted to practice space were completely different in almost every respect, the stern glares they directed at the Order's newest trainee as she walked through the door were nearly identical.

"You're late," Bastila informed her in that tone of voice which somehow managed to make even the most simple of declarations sound insufferably arrogant.

Andra sighed inwardly. _Nothing to do at this point but take my medicine, I suppose._ "I know, and I apologize. To both of you. Eating lunch took longer than I expected."

"Would that 'longer than expected' have anything to do with a certain war hero of the Republic?"

The apprentice snapped her jaw shut with an audible click. "A, How in the name of the Sith did you know I was having lunch with him and B, it's none of your business anyway."

"That's where you're wrong. Master Zhar and I are charged with instructing you in the ways of the Jedi, including the Code, which makes your relationship with Carth very much our business."

"Yeah, I know. No attachments," she ground out from between clenched teeth. "That's the whole reason I was so reluctant to go along with this in the first place. I didn't think it applied to friends, though, and even if it did... we're living beings, not machines. We have emotions and attachments just like everyone else."

"You are right," Bastila admitted. "Even the most disciplined cannot always control the feelings of the heart. But the Order forbids attachments for a reason. As Jedi, the dark side is a constant danger for us. Any sort of close relationship is fraught with powerful emotions. Anger and hate are the biggest concerns, obviously, but even love can lead to folly, make us justify going down a path that under other circumstances we would clearly recognize as wrong."

"Remember, too, that the nature of our missions means we carry more responsibility than most sentients," the Twi'lek added. "The fate of planets, sometimes the entire galaxy, hinges on the decisions we make. Imagine if you will that you are placed in a position where you have to choose between stopping the Sith from conquering a planet and saving him. Now do you understand?" She nodded. _I hadn't really thought about it that way. It s a lot like the reasoning behind why the Republic discourages relationships between subordinates and their commanding officers._ "But we can speak of this later. For now, let us see how your skill with a lightsaber is progressing."


	11. Chapter 11

A/N: I'm just about settled in back at school now for my junior year. We'll see how much time MCAT studying and regular homework leave for writing, but I am not about to abandon this story just when it's about to get good, I promise you that. Thank you as usual to Sia for her beta and to Bioware for creating such an epic story with unforgettable characters. I bow to you, David Gaider and the rest of the KotOR writing team.

* * *

As the days passed through the second, third, and fourth weeks of Andra's training, a change slowly began to take place. She was no longer on the defensive all the time when she and Bastila sparred, and even managed to land a few blows of her own. Tasks that had once been difficult for her she could now do without thinking, and her exercises became more and more complicated. From shakily levitating a datapad a foot above the table, she progressed to levitating a chair, then an entire table, and finally multiple chairs. On one particularly memorable morning four weeks after her arrival on Dantooine, she was sitting in the training room with two chairs and a datapad suspended in the Force. At the pre-arranged signal from Master Zhar, she slowly, carefully, began to lift herself off the floor as well. A full minute she held herself there, the chairs circling around her and rotating on their axes like planets around a star before she set them gently back down on the cold stone floor.

"Very well done, apprentice," Zhar congratulated her, and even Bastila was smiling with genuine approval. _Wow, the historians should record this day or something; I don't think I've ever seen her smile before._ "I believe it is time for you to take the next step toward becoming a full Jedi."

The apprentice raised an eyebrow. "And what would that be?"

"Before being accepted as a Padawan, each apprentice must build their own personal lightsaber. I am allowed to give you details of what parts you will need and a schematic of how to fit them together, but the finding and assembly of the parts is up to you. This way the weapon will become attuned to you in the Force… no two blades are alike, just as no two Jedi are alike. Many incorporate small personal touches, and some speak of being able to sense their lightsaber through the Force, even at great distances. Here; this datapad contains all the information you should need, but if you have any questions or encounter problems in crafting your weapon, I or any of the other Jedi are here to assist. May the Force be with you, apprentice."

Andra perused the information on the datapad the Twi'lek handed her with her lips pursed thoughtfully. "Will you be giving me time away from my normal lessons to work on this?"

"Of course," her Master agreed, "We can hardly expect you to accomplish this without allowing adequate time. Besides, there is little more that I can teach you in the classroom. Some things one can only learn through experience."

Andra took a step toward the door, then hesitated. "Oh, one more thing. The datapad mentions that a key component of a lightsaber is a high-quality focusing crystal. Where am I going to find one of those on a remote farming planet? They aren't exactly lying around and buying one would be way more than I could afford, even if I could find something suitable for sale here."

Zhar nodded. "Other apprentices have encountered this problem before you. There is a series of caves perhaps three kilometers southwest of the academy that are very strong in the Force and have abundant crystal deposits. Many students have found what they need there. Be careful, though; the kath hounds have been unusually aggressive of late. If you go, I recommend you not do so alone."

"Thank you, Master." She glanced down at the datapad again and sighed. "Well, this is going to take long enough as is. I suppose I'd better get started. Bastila, are you up for a bit of a walk today?"

The dark-haired Padawan nodded. "Certainly. It would be my honor to accompany you as you search for a crystal for your lightsaber."

When the _Ebon Hawk_'s loading ramp hissed closed behind the two Jedi, they were greeted almost immediately by the voice of the ship's pilot.

"Who's there?"

"It's just me, Carth. Or, me and Bastila, anyway."

A muffled thump, followed by some cursing, sounded from the direction of the engine room, then the commander's voice came back a bit clearer.

"Surprising to see you around at this time of day. Did you get yourself in so much trouble with the Jedi Masters that they changed their minds about training you?"

"Quite the opposite, actually," the former ensign replied a touch smugly as Carth appeared in the hallway, slightly sweaty and with grease stains on the sleeves of his formerly white shirt. "Master Zhar says it's time for me to build my lightsaber. There's a cave a few klicks away that should have the kind of crystal I need, but travelling alone in this wilderness would be dangerous, even for a Jedi. I was wondering if you would be willing to come with me."

"Get out of the Academy for a while? Absolutely! Just give me two minutes to wash the grease off my hands and grab my gear."

Though the Council had not formally forbidden her from leaving Academy grounds, Andra's training had left her little time for exploration or getting to know the locals. Now she found herself seeing several as she stepped out of the walls of the Jedi Enclave into a pleasant autumn morning. As a major landmark, the academy had become a site for Dantooine's sparse population to meet and trade. One enterprising Sullustan had even set up a small shop in the field outside. Thankfully, at least in Andra's opinion, the settlers were accustomed enough to seeing Jedi come and go that two more didn't cause much of a stir, so the three companions were able to slip by and continue on toward their objective.

For long minutes they hiked up and down the rolling hills of the Dantooine wilderness, following the map the Jedi had provided them. Bastila was able, by using the Force, to keep the occasional iriaz or kath hound that they encountered from attacking until they were cresting a hill about a kilometer and a half from the cave.

"Look out!" Andra screamed and tackled Carth to the ground just as a kath hound leapt, its jaws snapping at the air where Carth's neck had been just milliseconds before. Bastila _pushed _with all her considerable strength in the Force and the beast went sprawling. Before it could recover, she launched herself into a graceful flip and sliced it neatly in half with her golden lightsaber. Her expression, once Andra had recovered enough to look at her, was distinctly troubled.

"That was most definitely not natural. That kath hound absolutely stank of the dark side."

"This whole place is unnatural, if you ask me," Carth muttered, climbing to his feet. "I'm starting to think we should have brought Mission or Zaalbar or Canderous." He spotted another of the creatures approaching and dropped it with a blaster bolt between the eyes. "Or maybe all three of them."

The soon-to-be-Padawan took a deep breath to calm the adrenaline of the attack and studied their surroundings. Even without her Jedi senses, she could tell that something was wrong. The sun seemed somehow dimmer, as if a cloud had passed in front of it. The trees were twisted, but not in the benign way born of age like the ones in the Academy. When she opened herself to the Force, it was not the wondrous, life-affirming experience she had felt in the Academy. Instead, it was like a shadow was clouding her vision, and from the shadows a voice whispered. _You could have the power to do anything if only you surrender. _Normally, such an offer wouldn't have tempted her in the slightest, but in that moment, it seemed to be the thing she wanted most in the universe. Or, at the very least, the means to obtain it. _I could become the ruler of the galaxy if I felt so inclined. Or I could wipe every last Sith from the face of the galaxy and end this war. Compared to that, it would be simplicity itself to do something as minor as make sure Miss High-and-Mighty never crosses my path again, or convince Carth to forget all about his dead family and become my boyfriend. Anything I wanted, anything in the galaxy I felt like doing. No silly Jedi rules to get in the way… and no consequences. _It was the sort of freedom every sentient being craved at the deepest level of his, her, or its core.

"There are always consequences," Bastila reminded her quietly. "To believe otherwise is a lie of the dark side."

Andra shook her head to clear it. "I know."

Carth straightened from brushing the dirt off his dark brown pants long enough to give the two Jedi an extremely puzzled look. "Huh?"

"The dark side is strong in this place. Andra was sensing its temptation," Bastila explained. The commander made no reply, but frequently cast wary glances at their surroundings as the three companions ventured deeper into the tainted area.

"Is this really necessary? Couldn't we go around?"

The former soldier took another calming breath and forced her chaotic thoughts to the back of her mind. "Yes, and no, Carth. Well, technically we could, but it would add another twenty minutes each way to our trip. Unfortunately, the most direct route from the Enclave to the crystal cave leads right through the heart of the—" She stopped short as they rounded a corner and came upon a ruined stone structure. Only bits and pieces of the walls and the floor remained now, leaving it open to the sky, which was rapidly clouding over. "This is the heart of the taint?"

Bastila frowned briefly in concentration. "I don't think it's the place itself. There's somebody here." As they drew closer, the 'somebody' came into view. A female Cathar, approximately Bastila's age, wearing a set of Jedi robes. She sat cross-legged on the stone floor, apparently deep in meditation. As the intruders came closer, she rose smoothly to her feet and ignited her lightsaber. A moment later, the Padawan and the soldier froze in their tracks as surely as if they had been trapped in a stasis field. Andra had no time to wonder why she was not similarly trapped before the Cathar was upon her, sky-blue lightsaber blazing. She leaped backward and yanked with all her strength in the Force at Bastila's lightsaber. It flew into her hand with such an audible smack, and with a flick of her thumb, the yellow-gold blade hummed to life. After that, there was no room left for conscious thought—only enough room to trust the Force to guide her every move. Her opponent took a step forward and slashed in, a broad two-handed stroke aimed at her temple. Andra blocked the blow with a jolt strong enough to rattle her teeth and make her arm muscles scream in protest, but her strength held and she disengaged and shoved against the other woman's chest, following up with a sweeping strike aimed at the other woman's knees. The Cathar flipped effortlessly above it, landing behind the future Padawan's back, and the battle continued. Back and forth they struggled for long minutes, the Cathar attacking relentlessly while Andra blocked, trying to conserve her strength as much as possible while she waited for an opening. Finally, it came. The apprentice aimed another strike at her opponent's legs, and she leaped backward out of the way, but her exhausted senses missed detecting the section of wall just behind her. She smacked into the wall with a dull thud and in a heartbeat Andra was there, lightsaber held just millimeters from the stranger's throat.

"You…. you are strong. Stronger than me, even in my darkness," her unknown attacker said, awestruck. The accent was a little strange, and her voice had a hint of a feline purr to it, but the words were clearly understandable Basic.

"Who are you and why did you attack us," the former soldier demanded, her voice hard.

"I am Juhani, and this is my grove. This is the place of my dark power. This is the place you have invaded. When I embraced the dark side, this is where I sought solace. It is **mine**!"

Curiosity began to override anger in Andra's mind. "I take it you were a student at the academy? Why did you embrace the dark side?"

Juhani began to bow her head, but thought better of it when she was reminded of the lightsaber still held warily at her throat. Andra withdrew her weapon a few inches, though remained alert for any sign the woman might attack her again. "I struck down my master in the middle of training, consumed by my anger, embracing the power of hate. After that, I knew I could never go back. And now I revel in my dark power. Power enough to crush the life from someone such as you… or so I thought. But it was not enough." She let out an exasperated sigh with just the slightest hint of a growl. "What is it you want? Why do you not simply end this?"

The older woman felt a sudden wave of compassion for this young woman. _A very high price to pay for a momentary loss of control. There has to be some way to make this right. _"I've never killed anyone in cold blood, Juhani, and I don't intend to start now."

"You… do not?" she repeated, wide-eyed. She shook her head then. "I am pathetic. I sit here and think myself to be great by embracing the dark side, but I am nothing! There is no way I could be turned back!"

"No," Andra disagreed. "You are never too late to redeem yourself… if you want to."

"But I slew my master! How could the Council ever forgive that?"

"The Jedi believe in second chances, remember? If you go to them with a sincere heart, ready to let go of your anger and hate and learn from your mistakes, they will welcome you back with open arms."

The Cathar nodded thoughtfully. "If I show them that I am truly repentant, that I am willing to forsake the dark side… maybe. Just maybe." With sudden decisiveness, she extinguished her lightsaber and returned it to her belt. The human likewise lowered hers. "I will go, then, and submit myself to their judgment in the hope that they will forgive me. I thank you…"

"Andra," the human supplied with a smile.

"Andra. I am sure I will hear great things about you in the future." With renewed confidence, she strode from the clearing, back toward the doors of the academy.

Once the Cathar was out of sight, Bastila finally dared to move. "That was a delicate situation just now and you handled it with true Jedi wisdom. I am very impressed." For only the second time that day, she smiled, and Carth was beaming as well as he holstered his blasters.

"You did good. You might just make a proper Jedi yet; who knows?"

Andra returned Bastila's lightsaber to its rightful owner and resumed her walk toward the crystal cave before either of her companions could notice the blush coloring her cheeks. As they continued on, however, her good humor faded. The sense of wrongness about the area had faded, but just the memory of it was enough to make her shudder.

"Is something wrong?" Bastila inquired solicitously after several minutes of silence. "You seem as if something is troubling you."

"I was just thinking about what I felt earlier. That was the dark side? It was… very different from what I expected. I guess I didn't think it would be so… appealing."

Bastila nodded. "A common misconception. Most non-Jedi, assuming they know anything at all about the dark side, which is not always the case, would say that it is using the Force in anger, or for destructive ends. Those acts are of the dark side, but they do not represent what it is in its entirety. The dark side is an ever-present danger for Jedi precisely because it is so seductive, so insidious. It grows stronger the closer you draw to it. It begs you to surrender to it, to release all its terrible power… and it becomes harder and harder to resist. And once you stop resisting, it is too late. It twists you up inside and turns you into a mockery of everything you once stood for. Take Revan and Malak for example: they set out to save the Republic from the Mandalorians, and now they have become the very evil they sought to destroy." She gestured in Carth's direction. "Millions dead on Telos alone, and far more suffering. What sort of person would you have to become to perform such deeds willingly?"

Andra stared pensively out at the peaceful fields of Dantooine. "I don't know."

"Neither do I, and I hope I never do. It is so easy to think that we would never fall prey to such a horror, that we have unlimited control, vigilance, and foresight." She shook her head with a snort of derision that startled a nearby bird into flight. "If only that were true. The Sith have become powerful precisely because so many Jedi have succumbed to the lure of the dark side and joined them. What greater weapon is there than to turn an enemy to your cause? To use their own knowledge against them? We are weakened while they are strengthened. So we must steel ourselves and do whatever is required to fight against the dark side, even when the battle becomes wearying."

"Do whatever is required? Such as?"

"I don't know. I have never been much of a seer, and any vision I might have is clouded by shadows from the dark side, but I sense something ominous lurking those shadows. But I believe this is our destination here in front of us; come, we should continue with the task at hand. When the time comes, I only hope we are all strong enough to do what we must."

Bastila led the way into the cave. It was mostly stone at first, but then the initial passageway opened up into a large chamber, nearly ten meters across. The light from Carth's fusion lantern glinted off a dozen or more different crystal formations in every color of the rainbow and more besides. Some were higher up on the walls than most sentient beings could reach, but even those showed signs of having been harvested in the past. _Jedi, after all, have abilities at their disposal that most people do not._ Andra could feel the Force pulsing through the room like a heartbeat, not dark and twisted like before in the grove but as clear and pure as she had ever felt it back in the academy.

"Minions of Xendor!" Carth breathed reverently. "This is incredible! Who knew that remote and peaceful Dantooine was hiding a place like this?"

"The Jedi did not wish anyone to know. This place is strong in the Force; the crystals here have value far beyond their mere mundane properties." Bastila headed unerringly for a topaz-colored formation perhaps a meter off the ground. "Each formation has a unique sense in the Force, and together with the Force sensitivity of a Jedi, this creates an affinity between weapon and wielder even stronger than that which usually develops. This, for example, is where my crystal came from."

Carth wandered off to study a cluster of pale green crystals, but from the moment she entered the room, Andra's attention had been drawn to a deep blue crystal toward the back of the chamber, about two thirds of the way up the wall.

"Bastila, may I…"

The Padawan nodded and handed over her lightsaber. "Of course." Andra hit the switch to lock the blade in the on position, then let her eyes drift closed as she allowed the Force to flow through her. Upward the lightsaber floated until it reached the height of her chosen crystal, then with a single, delicate slice, she cut off just enough to make her lightsaber. The crystal floated gently down into her hand while the blade landed hilt-first in Bastila's outstretched hand. Carth was observing the proceedings from a safe distance, having long since turned his full attention from the crystals.

"So I guess it's real, then. You are a Jedi."

Andra stowed the piece of crystal in the pocket of her tunic and gave him a quizzical look. "What did you think I was doing all these weeks? Lying to you while I was really off gallivanting?"

"Well, no, but knowing it and seeing it are two different things. That was incredible!"

She ducked her head, color flooding her cheeks. "Thanks. Well, we have what we came for. Now comes the hard part: putting it all together."


	12. Chapter 12

Six days later, Andra stood in front of the workbench in the _Ebon Hawk's _cargo section, glaring at her nearly completed lightsaber.

"Alright, what did I do wrong this time?" She opened up the casing and began to examine all the different wires, connections, and components for the reason why her weapon still refused to ignite properly, comparing them against the schematics Master Zhar had given her. Finally, she saw it: she had switched the wires connecting to the power cell so that the one which was supposed to connect to the positive end was at the negative end and vice versa. Her palm connected with her forehead with a resounding smack and laughter sounded from behind her. She twisted to glare at the source with mock ferocity. "You knew. You saw when I was connecting it that I was doing it wrong and you let me keep going, didn't you? You are unbelievable sometimes, you know that?"

"Hey, didn't you say Master Zhar told you this was something you had to do yourself?" Carth Onasi replied in a falsely sanctimonious tone.

Andra rolled her eyes and returned her attention to fixing the problem. When she finished reassembling all the pieces, at last the deep blue blade hummed to life.

"Yes!" she cried, laughing for joy as she swung her new weapon through a complicated series of twirls, then shut it down and set it aside to grab Carth and swing him around in an excess of enthusiasm. "I did it! I finally did it!"

After a few seconds, the pilot disentangled himself from her arms with a low chuckle which sent shivers running up and down his companion's spine. _So not fair of him to do that to me_ she groused to herself.

"Well, I guess it's official now… Padawan Andra," he teased.

She grinned. "Not quite. It's not completely official until I am formally accepted as a Padawan by one of the Masters. Now, if you'll excuse me, I think I should go tell Master Zhar that I've finished."

The Twi'lek Council member was sitting in the Council chambers, conferring quietly with the other three Masters.

"Ah, apprentice!" he greeted her warmly, smiling when he saw what she held in her hand. "You have finished it, then? May I see?" She held out the lightsaber for him to take and he examined it for several moments, even turning it on and taking a few test swings.

"Congratulations," he said as he handed back the lightsaber. "The craftsmanship is excellent. And Juhani has told us of your meeting in the grove; you did very well in halting her journey down the dark path. You may be pleased to hear that her master, Quatra, in fact survived her injuries."

Andra's eyes lit up. "Really? Juhani must have been thrilled to realize she didn't kill her master after all."

Zhar nodded. "She was. It was Quatra's choice to test her student this way, and it seems to have made its point. Juhani is on her guard now lest her anger lead her back down the dark path, and you also have seen with your own eyes the terrible, corrupting evil of the dark side. I believe that you are ready now to become a full member of the Jedi Order, and I would be greatly honored to call you my Padawan should you choose to accept." Andra bowed her agreement and the Twi'lek nodded. "It is settled, then. Now, I believe it is high time we dealt with the matter of the dream you and Bastila shared. Master Vandar?"

"Under ordinary circumstances, a newly chosen Padawan would spend a night in meditation before taking up his or her duties. But I am afraid your situation has been anything but ordinary. I will send word for Bastila to join us; we can begin as soon as she arrives." The diminutive Jedi Master called in a protocol droid and gave it some brief instructions. A few minutes later, it returned with the young Jedi in tow. "Excellent; you are here. As we discussed previously, Master Dorak recognized the location in your vision as one of a series of ancient ruins on this planet. This one in particular lies approximately ten kilometers to the east of the enclave. A week ago, we sent a Jedi to investigate, but he has not returned. Perhaps it was a mistake to send him."

Andra's brow furrowed in confusion. "Why do you say that?"

Vandar sat back in his chair with a sigh. "Of all the Jedi in the galaxy, it was the will of the Force that you two, and no others, be the ones to receive this vision. It is possible that exploring the ruins is somehow tied to your destiny. Had we recognized this before, we could have saved poor Nemo his tragic fate."

"You wish us to discover what it was Revan and Malak sought?" Though Bastila kept her outward appearance mostly calm, her nervousness showed in the way she tucked her Padawan braid behind her ear.

"Yes," confirmed Master Vrook with a nod. "The secrets to stopping Malak may be hidden in that ruin. And you and Bastila share a powerful bond that may be the key to unlocking those secrets. I still don't like it, but you are the galaxy's last, deperate hope. I pray you are up to the challenge."

With that dismissal, the Jedi returned to the Ebon Hawk to grab their gear.

"I'm back," Andra called as she marched up the loading ramp, Bastila just ahead of her. Carth looked up from where he stood at the workbench tinkering with one of his blasters, then did a double-take. "Uh-oh, I know that look. You're heading for trouble, and you want me to come with you." He let out a resigned sigh and began reassembling his weapon. "Sure, why not? It's what I get paid for."

This time, the Council loaned them a landspeeder to make the trip. A five minute flight later, Carth was parking the vehicle in front of the ruin.

"Well, here we are… wherever 'here' is. You never did say exactly why the Council is so interested in this ruin."

Andra froze in the middle of climbing out of the speeder. "Oh! That's right, I forgot you weren't in any of the meetings Bastila and I had with the Council. Do you remember the morning I started my training?"

"Yes… you and Bastila were both acting very strangely. This has something to do with that?"

The older Padawan nodded. "I told you I had a rough night. You assumed it was because of Taris, but it wasn't. Bastila and I had a vision of Revan and Malak here in this ruin, looking for the secrets of something called the 'Star Forge'. The Council thinks knowing what they found here may be the key to stopping them." She stepped onto the grass and began to advance toward the stone door. To the eye, the structure in front of her seemed to be nothing out of the ordinary, but even from this distance, she could feel the dark power radiating from the place. She resolutely blocked out the strangely seductive feeling and began searching for a mechanism to open the door as she drew closer. None revealed itself to her inspection: no motion detector or retinal scanner or switch of any sort. "Carth, Bastila, do either of you see anything? The ones who built this place must have had some way of gaining entrance."

"No," they both replied. Andra sighed and unclipped her lightsaber from her belt. "Well, I guess we do this the hard way, then." She stabbed forward into the stone door with her blade… and nearly dropped the hilt in surprise when the weapon flickered and died almost immediately. She breathed a sigh of relief when it reignited normally. "I thought maybe I'd made a mistake building it that I failed to notice. I guess… not…" She swung again, but once again, the blade shorted out within milliseconds of contacting the stone. "What is this?" she exclaimed. Bastila also tried to cut the door, with the same result. Three gouges perhaps two centimeters wide and deep marred the previously undamaged surface of the door.

"The stone must contain some cortosis ore," said the younger Padawan. "At this rate, it could take us hours to cut through. Perhaps even days if the cortosis is throughout the door, depending on how thick it is. Explosives could get us through, but then we would run the risk of burying, possibly even permanently damaging, whatever is inside. The ancients who designed this _must_ have had a simpler way to get inside."

Andra's eyes lit up. "Of course! I just remembered… the Force! In our vision, Revan used the Force to open the door inside. Maybe this one opens the same way…" She raised her hands and opened her mind, probing the door to feel how it was built, how it had been designed to open._ There! _The doors slid slowly apart, and the three companions proceeded inside, every sense alert for danger. The inside was identical in every detail to the vision the Jedi had shared: broad stone pillars, intricately carved, supported the weight of the ceiling. Low walls approximately waist high sectioned off rooms from each other while allowing visitors to appreciate the full scope of the ruin. _An impressive view. I didn't expect the place to be so… big. _The sense of darkness that had present outside was even stronger here, and lent the place a rather claustrophobic atmosphere despite its size. The ceiling, though nearly twice Andra's height, seemed to be pressing down on her, as if just waiting for the right moment to collapse. _It occurs to me that we are in a rather vulnerable position. If someone was waiting in ambush, all they would have to do is lock the door and we would be completely trapped. Or, far more cruel, a well-placed blast could simply bring the place down around us. Buried alive… _An image flashed through her mind of another ruin on another planet, a stone casket in a small circular room, but it faded as quickly as it had come, leaving the two Padawans and the soldier standing in front of the only part of the room which did not leave a gap to see through: the door leading further into the complex. Andra opened it and stepped across into the next room… and nearly jumped out of her skin when she heard a voice speaking in the darkness. Then the beam of Bastila's glowrod fell across the source—a vaguely spiderlike droid in the center of the chamber—and she relaxed slightly.

"A droid in here? And it's still functioning? How old is this place anyway?" sounded Carth's voice from behind the two Jedi.

"I don't know," answered Bastila. "But I cannot recognize the language the droid is speaking. Do either of you?"

"No," the other two replied. The droid began to speak again, but in a different language from the previous time, a strange hooting , honking, and screeching that was just as alien to Andra as the first.

"I'm sorry, I still don't understand you."

"The droid seems to be cycling through a variety of languages trying to communicate with us. It can probably understand us, but the problem is it may not be programmed to speak a language we can understand.

"I can reproduce any of the languages spoken by the Builders." This time, the droid spoke in a flowing dialect full of hissing and spitting, and though the syntax was rather archaic, the words were clearly understandable.

The two Padawans exchanged a look of surprise. "Hey! I understood that!" exclaimed Andra.

Bastila regarded the droid with a very confused expression. "I recognize the language as well. But why is a droid on Dantooine programmed to speak ancient Selkath?"

"Communication was vital to ensure the slaves constructed this temple according to the wishes of the Builders. But you are not of the slave species. Nor are you of the Builders. You are like the one who came before."

"'The one who came before'… it must be referring to Revan. The Dark Lord and Malak likely encountered this droid when they came here."

"But what is it? Why is it here?"

"I am the overseer. The Builders programmed me to enforce discipline among the slaves while this monument to the power of the Star Forge was constructed. At project completion, all slaves were executed. I was reprogrammed to serve should a Builder return in search of knowledge about the Star Forge."

Bastila jerked upright. "The Star Forge! That is what Revan and Malak were interested in. What can you tell us about it, Overseer?"

"The Star Forge is the glory of the Builders, the apex of their infinite empire. It is a machine of invincible might, a tool of unstoppable conquest."

"But what is it? What does it do?"

"The… the Star Forge is glory of the Builders, the apex of—"

"Oh, enough already," Andra muttered in irritation. "We heard you the first time. This can't be all Revan and Malak found. There must have been something more."

"The ones who came before you, the ones like you—not builders, but not slaves—sought the secrets of the Star Forge locked behind the sealed door behind me. They proved themselves worthy and were allowed to enter. But there was another who failed to unlock the secrets and paid the ultimate price." Only then did the humans notice the body of a man just past middle age sprawled on the floor to their left. His tan Jedi robes were stained with blood and blackened around the edges of the blaster wound in the left side of his chest. Though he was clearly dead, and the cause was obvious, Bastila still knelt to examine him more closely.

"I recognize this man. Nemo… he was always very kind to me in my apprentice days. The Council sent him here to investigate, and it cost him his life." She straightened and even in the shadowy light, Andra could see the resolve on her face. "Too many Jedi have lost their lives in this war. Revan is gone, but Malak still remains, using this Star Forge to fuel his conquest of the Republic. We have to learn what is; we have to find out what they uncovered. The Republic and the Order are counting on us."

Ten minutes and two battle droids later, they had passed the tests in the proving grounds to the left and right of the Overseer droid. Andra tucked her vibroblade back into her belt sheath with a sigh of relief. "Droids with lightsaber-resistant armor plating. Somebody sure went out of their way to make life difficult for any Jedi trying to get access to whatever is on the other side of the door. But I think it should be open now."

The three humans approached the door, and the force field which had been blocking it shimmered and died. After all the effort they had gone to, the sight that greeted them on the other side seemed almost anticlimactic: another hallway with yet another door at the end.

"This one better not be… locked." A powerful wave of déjà vu made Andra hesitate mid-step as she crossed the room. "No, it's not. This is the door we saw in our vision, I'm sure of it." She stopped in front of the door, but paused before reaching out with the Force to open it.

"What is it?" asked Carth.

"Just a feeling. 'If we pass beyond this door, we can never go back.'" Something tells me those words are as true for us as they were for Revan and Malak." The new Padawan took a deep breath as she crossed the threshold.

The room beyond was much larger than the one they had left, but surprisingly bare given that fact. Besides the usual carvings on the walls and the pillars, the only other object was a strange three-pronged device at the back of the room. It began to unfold with a mechanical screech of long-unused mechanisms as the defenders of the Republic warily approached, and when it was fully opened, a holoprojector flickered to life. The image it created was clearly a map of the galaxy, though more detailed than the map an average citizen might have. Four planets in particular were highlighted.

Bastila peered carefully at the projection. "So this is what Revan and Malak found. This is where their journey toward the dark side began. They must have used this map to lead them to the Star Forge." She paced around the image to the first of the highlighted planets. "See here. This looks like Korriban, a Sith planet. Which would make that Kashyyyk, and the one over there is Tatooine, and there's Manaan. But there are pieces missing. Incomplete hyperspace coordinates, corrupted data… and there doesn't seem to be anything indicating the location of the Star Forge itself."

"Perhaps those worlds you named have more clues," suggested Andra.

Bastila nodded. "I was thinking that too. During the year when Revan and Malak disappeared into the Unknown Regions, people on several worlds reported seeing them, and I know they visited Korriban at least once. Perhaps they discovered something more there. Perhaps they found something on each of the other worlds that completed this map. Maybe if we retrace their footsteps, we can find all the pieces to lead us to the Star Forge… and find some way to destroy it."

Carth was leaning against the wall, arms folded skeptically across his chest. "I heard an awful lot of 'maybes' and 'perhapses' in there. What if you're wrong?"

"What if I'm right?" countered Bastila. "We can't just ignore this. Finding the Star Forge might well be our only hope of winning this war. We must inform the Council of what we have discovered. They will decide our next course of action, though I suspect our task has only just begun."

"If you say so."

The trip back to the academy passed in silence. Even when Bastila informed Carth that he would not be allowed to join them in the special emergency meeting of the Council that was being called, his only response was an angry huff before he stalked off toward the _Hawk_.

As she stepped into the Council chambers yet again, Andra tried to straighten her sweat-stained clothes and smooth her tousled hair. The scene was almost identical to the previous audiences she'd had except for the time of day: the sun was nearly set and glowpanels around the edges of the ceiling provided illumination for the room. As usual, it was Master Vandar who began the meeting.

"You have returned, Padawans. Have you discovered what it was Revan and Malak sought in that ruin?"

Bastila bowed slightly. "Yes, Masters. We found an incomplete galactic map with four planets in particular marked: Korriban, Kashyyyk, Manaan, and Tatooine. We also found a droid that spoke of a 'Star Forge', which is the same thing the Dark Lords were speaking of in the vision Andra and I shared. The map itself did not show the location of this Star Forge, but I believe that the marked planets may contain more clues, perhaps even additional maps that will allow us to locate and hopefully destroy it."

The Jedi Master's ears twitched in a gesture Andra had come to recognize as meaning he was deep in thought. "This news of a Star Forge is disturbing. We must act, but not in haste."

"We should consult the Jedi archives to see if there is any mention of this 'Star Forge' and what it might do. We must learn why Revan and Malak sought it out."

The Council members exchanged glances, then Vandar nodded. "Return to your ship, Padawans. We will summon you when our investigation is complete."

While they waited, Bastila was already poring over a map of the galaxy, noting distances and typing out fuel calculations on her datapad.

"Don't you think that's a little premature, Bastila? The Council hasn't decided yet whether to approve your plan, and even if they do, there's no guarantee we will be the ones to carry it out.

"I believe they will. They know as well as we do that it may be our only hope of stopping the Sith. And we are the most logical ones to carry out this mission. We received the vision; we succeeded in gaining access to the star map when Nemo failed. I think the will of the Force is clear, and it never hurts to be prepared."

Nearly two hours after sundown, the summons came.

"Padawans," Master Vandar greeted them once they were back inside the Council chambers. "You have done well in discovering the map hidden within the ancient ruins. But there is more you must do in the battle against Malak and the Sith."

"I have consulted our vast archives, attempting to discover the nature of this Star Forge, but could find no data at all regarding it," stated Master Dorak. "Nevertheless, the Council are in agreement: the Star Forge must be found."

Andra let out a snort of laughter. "Even you, Master Vrook?"

The gray-haired man nodded. "Even I. Revan and Malak sought it out when they began their fall; it is surely a powerful tool of the dark side. The Council has decided to approve Padawan Bastila's plan: that you travel to the other planets named on the star map and seek out any information you can find."

"The Council appreciates the importance and the danger of this mission," explained Vandar. "Yet if we sent a company of Jedi Knights with you, we would surely draw the full attention of the Sith, dooming your efforts to failure. Secrecy is your best defense, but it would be foolish of us to send you and Bastila on this mission alone. We have also requested that Juhani accompany you, and she has agreed. The Ebon Hawk will be your means of transportation in your travels; Commander Onasi has already consented to serve as her pilot."

"What about the others who aided Bastila and me on Taris?"

The grey-skinned Master nodded agreement. "An excellent idea. Their different skills may be very useful in your quest. They may also come if they are willing."

"I suppose the only question left, then, is when do we leave?"

"As soon as you are ready," was Master Vrook's answer. "The sooner the better. Every day, Malak grows stronger. But a few words of warning before you go, Padawan. First, you will not be able to hide the fact that you are a Jedi, nor should you try. But the true nature of your mission must not reach Malak's ears. Second, be always wary of the lure of the dark side. Juhani nearly fell; perhaps her presence will serve to remind you how difficult to resist the dark side is, how easily one can fall. If not, I fear this quest to find the Star Forge could lead you down an all too familiar path. Go now, and may the Force be with you."

As fate—or the Force—would have it, the entire crew, including Juhani, was gathered at the Ebon Hawk when Andra and Bastila returned to the ship. The older woman immediately called them all into the central living area.

"Some of you already know this, but the Council is sending Bastila and me on a critical mission, to find the Star Forge and stop Malak from using it to conquer the galaxy. Those of you that have already agreed to aid us…" At this she raised her eyes to meet Carth's where he stood across the circle from her. "Thank you. It means a lot to me that you are willing to take this risk. The rest, I wanted to speak to now. Your company on this mission would be much appreciated if you wish to come, but I will not understate the danger of this mission. If you would prefer to seek your fortunes elsewhere, that is completely understandable."

"Going up against Malak himself is a battle any Mandalorian would glory in. I'm in," Canderous announced.

Mission's expression was as fierce as Andra had ever seen it. "Taking the fight to the guy who turned Taris into dust? I'm with you."

"And wherever Mission goes, I go," Zaalbar rumbled. "I will aid you however I can in this mission, Andra Gelan."

"My thanks to all of you. Rest well tonight because we will most likely be departing as soon as we are able tomorrow morning."

The small meeting dispersed at that point, and over the noise of footsteps and conversation, Andra heard Bastila speak.

"A moment, please, Carth?"

"What do you need?"

"I thought we might discuss what our first destination should be. Tatooine and Korriban are both fairly close, but I for one would like to learn more about what we are looking for before we go waltzing into a Sith stronghold."

"Yeah," Andra agreed, pausing near the two humans as the other crew members resumed whatever business they had been attending to before the gathering interrupted it. "We just spent a week on a Sith-controlled planet; I think I would prefer to be able to move about freely a little longer before we deal with the matter of Korriban. Is beginning with Tatooine an acceptable plan to you, Carth?"

"Sure, whatever." He turned to head back to the cockpit, leaving Andra staring after him. _What's his problem? I don't think I've ever seen him be so brusque with someone, even when we were yelling at each other on Taris._

His mood didn't improve noticeably either over the course of the trip to Tatooine. He stayed in the cockpit except to eat, sleep, and use the refresher, even though there was little for a pilot to do in hyperspace besides watch for alarms. If someone spoke to him directly or asked him a question, he would respond, but only with the minimum amount of information necessary.

"Well, here we are," he announced when they finally landed. "Tatooine. Lots of desert, not a lot of people, and no real idea what we're looking for."

"Alright, Carth, mind telling me what's wrong? You've barely said two words to any of us since we left Dantooine and you seem a lot snippier than usual."

"Have I been?" He seemed to consider that for a moment. "I suppose I have. I guess I just don't like being left out of the loop."

"I haven't been leaving you out of the loop, Carth."

He raised his eyebrows. "No? Well, you certainly aren't helping matters either, and it's really starting to irritate me. For one thing, I want to know what the Jedi Council said to you. They never let me in any of the meetings they had with you two back on Dantooine and yet here I am getting dragged into all these missions they keep giving you. You want to know what I think? I think they had this planned right from the start, when they asked me to stay because they thought they might need my help." He twisted to glare at Bastila, who was sitting in the copilot's seat doing her best to ignore the conversation. "I wouldn't be surprised to learn that _you_ were in on this even before that. The Endar Spire was traveling to Tatooine on a 'garrison' mission. Then we found that star map on Dantooine and guess what world happens to be first on the list."

"That is none of your concern, and you would do well to leave the matter be," Bastila sneered.

"No, damn it! We're all risking our lives here, and if we're going to do that, I think we deserve to know the truth. The _whole_ truth. So if you won't talk to me, maybe somebody else will." The meaningful glance he cast in Andra's direction made it clear who that 'somebody' was. Bastila let out a soft "Tuh" and left to gather her things.

"About the Endar Spire… we've had this conversation before. She," the older woman jerked her head in the direction of the door her younger colleague had just exited through, "is the only one who knows about that and she's not telling. But when Bastila told the Council about the vision we had, they knew they had to do something about it."

Carth spun his chair around to face her and settled back in it, crossing his arms across his chest. "I'm not about to argue with Jedi visions. Not after Serroco." His expression clouded briefly. "But why you? Don't they have to train you more?"

"Master Zhar said there was little more he could teach me in a classroom, that some things you can only learn through experience."

"Exactly: experience. As a Jedi, you have almost none. You're a neophyte Padawan who's been saddled with the responsibility of finding this Star Forge. Why? That's not normal. I'm not trying to provoke you or imply that you're somehow responsible for the Jedi Council, but give me a hand here. They must have given you some sort of explanation."

"They said that it was the will of the Force. Bastila and I are the ones who saw the vision that told us about the map in the ruins. They sent Nemo to investigate, but he died. We survived to tell the Council what we found. They said that was proof enough that the Force sent the vision to _us_ because _we_ are meant to be the ones to act on it to stop the Sith. Bastila and I share some sort of… bond. Our minds are linked, which is why we both saw the vision, but it's more than that. Our destinies are linked as well. Whatever happens to one of us affects the other."

He snorted derisively. "More of that destiny garbage the Jedi keep talking about? Well, that can't be it. I'll tell you this much, I am _not _going to wait around until I'm betrayed again."

Andra shot to her feet so fast she nearly tripped over her chair. "I am _not_ going to betray you. I am _not_ Saul."

"Well, we'll just see about that, won't we?" Carth muttered, then immediately clapped a hand over his mouth when he realized what he'd said. "No, I didn't mean it that way. I…"

"Yes you did. You wouldn't have said it if you didn't. I thought we were past this by now, but I guess not. If you don't want to be a part of this mission, then go. If you do, then you need to figure yourself out. Until then, I'm through trying to be your friend, or whatever." She stormed from the cockpit, the stomps of her boots against the deck reverberating throughout the ship.


	13. Chapter 13

A/N: First of all, I wanted to say this: I've been noticing the occasional typo or spelling error that has managed to slip under both my and my beta, Sia's, eagle eyes. If you see one... point it out to me, please! There are few things I hate more as a writer then reading back through older chapters to check on some detail or other and seeing an error that has been sitting in the published version of the chapter for days or even weeks in some cases. Second... this update is a few days off of the weekly schedule I had hoped to resume now that I'm back at school. I apologize for that, but there's a good side to the bad news: the delay happened because my muse was busy writing writing about 12,500 words worth of events that will be happening in another dozen chapters or so. So when I get there, expect to see 4 or 5 updates in rapid succession. In the meantime, better late then never, right? I hope you enjoy this next installment in the saga of Padawan Andra Gelan.

* * *

After the controlled environment of the ship, the blazing heat of Tatooine's twin suns hit the _Ebon Hawk_'s crew with almost physical force, and the intensity of the light made Andra very glad she had remembered her tinted glasses. A light-haired man wearing similar glasses was waiting outside the ship to greet them.

"Welcome to Anchorhead, potential customer. Czerka Corporation stands ready to serve… after a few formalities, of course."

The Padawan groaned inwardly. _Of course. The usual bureaucratic nonsense. _"What kind of 'formalities' are we talking about?"

"Well, your ship is not on our list of planned arrivals for today. Because of that, there will be a 100 credit docking fee and we will need you to fill out a customs form. Just a few simple questions, you understand, so we can better serve your needs while here on Tatooine. Like a… registration, of sorts."

"Sure, sure, I'll do it." She flipped the man a 100-credit coin and began typing away at the form he transmitted to her datapad. _Nothing too intrusive. Name, planet of origin, date of birth, purpose of visit… _At that she cracked a smile. _I wonder what they'd say if I put down the truth, that we're on a mission to save the galaxy from the Sith. But no, someone might actually believe it, and Czerka has a strong association with the Sith. _She wrote down 'acquisition of rare items' and sent the completed form back to the customs officer, who gave it a cursory glance before nodding in approval.

"That seems to be in order. Now, if you'd like, as a customs officer I can offer information on the city and its surroundings. Is your visit business or pleasure?"

Andra had to work to stifle the laughter that threatened to escape. "You mean people actually come here for pleasure?"

"Yes, actually. There are some fearsome native species, such as the wraid and the krayt dragon, that provide exciting hunting, and the lengthy barren wastes serve as fine swoop tracks. Attracting business has been slow, however, I will admit."

"Ha, no doubt. My associates and I are here looking for something very particular, though. Who should we talk to?"

"I'm afraid you're going to have to give me more information than that for me to be able to help. What kind of something are you looking for?"

"Antiques, sort of," the Jedi hedged. "Ancient artifacts."

"Hmph, you don't look much like the usual diggers we get from time to time. I've heard that some of them actually did manage to uncover ancient ruins, but they've always been stripped by the Sand People soon after. And good luck getting anywhere with them. I doubt anyone else in town will be able to tell you more, but you might try a Jawa. There's no telling what they know."

"Thanks for the help. I'll be going now, then."

The crew passed through the door into the city proper. Sentients of various species wandered about the settlement, going about their own business, but almost all paused to stare at the large, ill-assorted group. They saw signs for all sorts of establishments: a cantina, a lodge for hunters, registration for those looking to compete in the swoop races, a Czerka corporate office and retail store, but nothing that looked like it might be the slightest help in their mission. It struck her then just how enormous the task the Council had set for them really was. _I'd never hear the end of it from Carth if I admitted it, but he was right: we're on a strange planet, and not a very hospitable one at that, and we don't really know what we're looking for. The Jawas are the only lead we have, and an extremely shaky one at that. It's almost as if I'd started to believe Bastila and the Council when they said it's the will of the Force that we do this, but even if it is the will of the Force, that doesn't mean everything's just going to fall into our laps. _Despair threatened to overwhelm her, but then she recalled Master Zhar's admonition whenever she was on the verge of giving up on an exercise: _Despair is of the dark side. Alright, then, let's think things through . First things first, if what we're looking for is anything like the ruin on Dantooine, it will have a unique and powerful sense in the Force. Might even be able to feel it from here depending on how close it is. And maybe the Jawas do know something. Hey, is that…_ she stood still, listening for the sound she thought she had heard among the noise of the city. _There it is again. _Her eyes followed the rapid jabbering to its source: a small, bipedal humanoid about half the height of most of other species in the town.

"Can I ask you a question?" Andra requested once she was standing in front of the creature.

"Many humans scurrying this way and that in the sand, many want to buy things from Jawa, but never anyone want to ask a question. I will answer, if you will also answer something I ask."

Andra nodded and folded her arms across her chest. "Sounds like a fair trade. I'm looking for something ancient… you might call it a star map."

"These are things I know! Yes!" the Jawa exclaimed, his speech quickening with excitement until it was almost too fast for the Jedi to understand. "From those that came before, the guide to lights far and away. I can tell you! We will trade what we each need."

_Of course he can't just give me the information, no strings attached. It's never that simple, is it?_ "I take it this is the part where you had something you wanted to ask me?"

"Yes. Iziz am I, leader of the tribe that is mine. You are the same in kind, yes? A leader that stands before your tribe?"

Carth chuckled and flashed the Padawan a smile. "Leader of our tribe, eh? That's a new one." The only sign she gave that she heard him was a haughty sniff as she turned back to the Jawa.

"I guess you could say that. What do you need?"

"The giants made of sand have taken us away. No help has been brought by asking the people that dig with great machines. Now Iziz asks you: go to the people of sand in the sand to the south, bring the tribe from in to out, and I will help you to find the map of stars to those from before."

"So, let me get this straight. You'll tell us where this star map is after we help you? Why should we believe that you even know what we're looking for?" asked Carth.

"It does seem convenient," Bastila agreed, "But we've no reason to disbelieve the creature."

"What? You're joking, right? Just because he's small doesn't mean he's any more trustworthy than a Gamorrean, Bastila; don't be naïve!"

She attempted futilely to brush the sand off her Jedi robes. "I am _not _naïve, Carth. I simply sense no deceit here."

The pilot flushed slightly. "Oh. Well, why didn't you just say so in the first place? Jedi senses I trust. Wishful thinking I don't."

The fact that the guard by the gate refused to allow them outside the city limits without a hunting license further complicated their search, so it was back to the Czerka office to persuade the clerk there to issue them one.

"That was sure easy," Mission observed as they left, shielding her eyes against the sand that the wind was blowing into her eyes. "All we had to do was agree to something we were planning to do anyway."

"Yes, things have gone surprisingly well so far," Juhani agreed. "The Force is with us, it seems."

They were walking toward a speeder rental business when they were stopped by a woman in faded and worn clothes.

"Please, Master Jedi," she pleaded, "Can you help me? I have no one and nothing left."

Andra halted and gave the woman a compassionate smile. "What do you need? I'll help if I can."

"Oh, thank you! I'm so glad I finally found someone on this wretched ball of dust who isn't just out for themselves. My name is Sharina; my husband was a miner for Czerka but he lost his job when they started scaling back the mines last year. We spent almost all our savings to get him his hunting gear and license… he was a good fighter; he used to be a soldier for the Republic. We thought the sport would bring in enough to support us. Then, after just a few trips, he never came back. A sandcrawler found his body stripped of everything he was carrying."

"So what do you need? Money?"

The woman hesitated, scuffing nervously at the sand. "Yes, but it's not like I don't have anything to offer in return. My husband brought back a bone plate from the head of a desert wraid he killed on one of his hunts. He was so proud of it, but he was so sure the next hunt would bring in more, so we waited to sell it. Now he's gone and without his license, they won't let me into the hunter's lodge to sell the plate. Will you buy it from me? It's worth 500 credits at least if you can find someone to sell it to. Fazza in the hunter's lodge would buy it if you happen to have a license."

Andra fished out several credit chits from her wallet, though it was nearly all the cash she was carrying at the moment. "Here's 700. Good luck to you."

Sharina counted up the credits, astonishment growing on her face as she saw that the amount was exactly what the Padawan had said. "700 credits? Oh, thank you! Thank you! I don't know what else to say to such generosity. For what it's worth, I hope you get a good price for that plate. And thank you again! With this, my children and I can buy passage to Coruscant or somewhere, start over. You've saved us! What is it you Jedi say? 'May the Force be with you'? If you just come with me, I'll get the trophy for you."

"With all the violence and bloodshed we've seen, it's kind of nice to help someone for a change," said Carth as they were on their way to the hunter's lodge to get whatever money they could for the wraid plate. "But why did you do it?" Andra ignored him in favor of walking the last few steps to their destination, but he managed to position himself between her and the control panel for the door. "Did you not hear me talking to you? Why do you do things like this? The old man on Taris, and now this Sharina… even with the galaxy on the line, you don't hesitate to help out a person in a tight spot, even if it means giving them credits out of your own personal bank account." The Jedi still refused to answer, instead reaching out to the Force to hit the button to open the door.

"Man!" Mission exclaimed while Andra was busy haggling with the merchant Sharina had named over the price of her acquisition. "What did you do to make her so mad at you?"

The Republic soldier sighed ruefully. "Only insulted her in the worst way possible. Couldn't have done worse if I'd tried."

"So why don't you just tell her you're sorry?"

"Because she won't listen unless she believes I really mean it."

The Padawan managed to recoup 500 of her 700 credits but the other 200 were a loss. Walking down the street toward a speeder rental business, the group encountered a Bith complaining loudly in his own language. "Murdering, greedy fools… what are you looking at, human?" For Andra followed him with her gaze as the group passed.

"What are you so upset about?"

"Czerka! Those idiots want to hire somebody to exterminate the Sand People that have been cutting into their profit margin."

"I know that; we're the ones they hired. It seems reasonable enough to me. The Sand People attacked first; I'm not going to just let them keep killing the miners."

"Well, yes," the Bith replied as if it were the most logical thing in the world. "Of course they did. Czerka deployed quite a number of enormous sandcrawlers and started tearing up the desert with ion shovels and who knows what else. And without any sort of negotiations for territory or resources, or even the permission of the Sand People, I might add."

Andra raised an eyebrow. "Permission?"

"Yes, permission. The Sand People aren't animals. I've watched them… they're intelligent and they have a language, if only someone knew how to speak it. I'm not saying I think the killing is justified, but as a conservationist, I'd like to see a solution that doesn't involve more killing."

The Padawan brushed a stray lock of her coal black hair behind her ear. "I'm not opposed to resolving this peacefully, but how is that possible when no one can speak their language?"

"I'm sure I heard that droid merchant, Yuka Laka, say he had a protocol droid that could speak a Sand People dialect. Granted, he'd try to pass rust off as gold to make a sale, and I sure couldn't afford his prices, but wouldn't it be worth it to avoid driving the Sand People into extinction? If you could get robes like theirs and you had that droid with you, maybe you could talk them."

"Thank you. I'll look into it before I set out into the desert."

The Bith hadn't been exaggerating about the price of the droid. It took all of Andra's skill at haggling, Carth's skill with swoop-racing, Mission's contributions from the Pazaak games she won in the cantina, and a rather impressive-looking wraid plate that Canderous had procured to bridge the gap between the group's limited finances and the 2500 credits that the Ithorian and the Jedi eventually agreed on. _In fact, Canderous was not at all happy about the idea of spending extra time and money to try to preserve the Sand People's lives, and even less that there was no room for him in the speeder after all that effort. He only fell in line because he respects me as a leader, though don't ask me how I managed to get elected to that position. _Still, a couple days after they had originally planned, they were on their way out into the desert, following the map the Czerka had provided them in the general direction of the Sand People's enclave. A handful of kilometers from the city, they heard a human's shouts over the howling of the wind.

"Anyone out there? Can you help? I seem to be… uh… doomed."

Carth flicked a glance at Andra, who nodded, visibly clenching her teeth. _I swear, if we run into any more delays like this… _She could practically hear Bastila reciting the Jedi Code to herself in the seat behind her.

The speaker was a man with dark hair and olive-toned skin just a shade or two darker than Andra's. Four battle droids hovered in a square around him, but even the most unskilled in mechanical matters could see that there was something odd in the way they seemed to be almost shaking. "Thanks for stopping," he said by way of greeting. "I've been stuck here and ran out of water hours ago. Say…" His eyes flickered appreciatively over the older of the two human females in the rescue group. "I think I remember seeing you in Fazza's club. Very few human females come to Tatooine, and even fewer are hunters." A seductive note crept into his voice and Carth shot him a glare that would have melted ice.

"Hey! You talk to her with a bit of respect in your voice or we just might leave you out here! Got it?"

"I can speak for myself, thank you, Carth," Andra informed him coolly before turning her attention back to the trapped man. "As for you, if you dare speak or look at me like that again, I _will _leave you out here. Now, what seems to be the problem?"

"Well… uh… I seem to have worn out my welcome with my wife, Marlena," he stammered.

"I wonder why," Carth muttered sarcastically.

"Hey, I'm not sure how divorce works where you're from but I think murder is a little extreme, don't you?"

The pilot sighed reluctantly. "I guess we should help him out. He's a core slime, but does he deserve to die?"

"I say leave him here," Bastila suggested, eyeing the man with disgust.

"You're pretty heartless for such a pretty lady," he leered.

Bastila clenched her teeth. "I take it back. Let's congratulate his wife when we get back to Anchorhead."

"Commentary:" interjected the mechanical voice of their new 'protocol' droid. "I say we blast the meatbag and save you the trouble."

"I'd… ah… really appreciate a bit of help. Please?" he pleaded. "The wife put a kink in my battle droids. They're in some sort of feedback loop and if I move from this spot, they'll explode. They don't care if anyone else moves, though. One of you could fix them so I can safely return to Anchorhead.

"Alright, we'll do it," Andra agreed grudgingly. "Carth, I think you're the best at mechanical work out of all of us here."

The soldier nodded and went to grab the small tool kit he had stashed in their speeder, then positioned himself in front of the first of the four droids and set to work opening its access panel.


	14. Chapter 14

A/N: As usual, thank you to Sia for helping me this chapter to its fullest potential. And thank you to Bioware for creating these characters which I am borrowing.

* * *

The problem didn't take Carth very long to fix. Once the last of the droids had returned to normal, the dark-haired hunter raised a fist in triumph.

"Ha! And the old witch thought I was a goner. Thanks again for getting me out of that." He gave Andra another suggestive look. "Now, my dear lady, I must see to your reward. Will earthly delights suffice?" He took in the Jedi's utter lack of interest and the glare from her soldier companion and sighed in resignation. "No, I suppose not. Take this, then." He handed her a pair of credit chips totaling 150 credits. "Now I have to get back to Anchorhead. I hope my wife left the manual for these droids, the ungrateful little schutta."

Now the two Jedi and their companions were free to continue on their way to the Sand People encampment. Once they drew closer, they stopped to don the robes they had acquired from a small group of the Tusken Raiders they had encountered along the way.

Andra wrinkled her nose against the musky, mildewy scent. _I'm definitely not spending any more time in these than is absolutely necessary. _"We'd better walk the rest of the way. They'll never believe we're one of them if we drive up in a speeder."

"Good point," Carth agreed. "I'll leave my comlink here so we can find our way back."

The heat of the day was sweltering, and within minutes the three humans' robes were soaked in sweat. The protocol droid, who, they had learned, went by the designation HK-47, surveyed the desolate waste of the Tatooine desert with the same, almost sinister metallic expression.

"Suggestion: We should find this 'star map' you are looking for quickly so we can leave this planet. I fail to see why the other organic meatbags have any interest in staying here."

Coming into view as they crested yet another sand dune was a small group of perhaps half a dozen Sand People.

"We're getting close," Andra whispered. "We should keep quiet, but, HK, be ready to translate in a hurry if things go downhill."

"Acknowledgement: as you command, Master," the droid replied, modulating the volume on his vocabulator so his voice would not carry.

Their disguise served to convince the Sand People that they were one of their kind until the four companions reached the outskirts of the encampment. One of the real Sand People greeted them in a hooting, screeching, and honking language. Though the words were not understandable to Andra, the creature's body language was clearly hostile. _I guess our disguise doesn't work so well up close._

HK swiveled his head to face the Jedi. _"_Interjection: I believe I understood that, Master. It may not have been his intention, but he did actually communicate something."

"Quick, tell him we mean no harm!" she ordered the translator droid.

"Translation:" He emitted a series of sounds nearly identical to those the guard had made except for the slightly mechanical quality of the droid's voice. The guard responded in kind.

"Result: I believe I have succeeded in confusing him, Master. Never before has an outsider attempted to communicate with them in their own language."

"Tell him that we apologize for being here, but that we want a peaceful resolution of their problems with Czerka."

Another exchange took place between the droid and the Sand People guard.

"Translation: He is expressing disbelief, as am I, but his duty requires that he bring us before the chieftain. Extrapolation: It would seem that we are at least worthy of curiosity for the moment. I would much rather this get bloody, Master, but it is your call."

"No, HK, you are not to fire unless they attack first," Andra commanded in a tone of strained patience. "We spent two days earning the credits to buy you specifically so that we _wouldn't_ have to fight them all." _And if I knew you were such a bloodthirsty droid, I might have insisted Yuka Laka give you a memory wipe before letting you travel with us. _An unavoidable thought made her shiver despite the heat of Tatooine's twin suns. _The Sand People dialect is one of the languages that the droid on Dantooine tried to communicate in! It spoke Selkath, and Manaan was one of the planets shown on that map. Tatooine was another, and now we find out one of the other languages the droid spoke is native to this planet. I wonder if it would have spoken Wookiee had Bastila and I not understood Selkath? And how is it that this droid understands it?_

As had become all too common, obstacle after obstacle continued to stand between them and their goal. By the time they actually stood in front of the star map, it was late in the afternoon. The device was identical in almost every respect to the map they had found in the ruins on Dantooine: a three-pronged device that opened as they approached to reveal a glowing map of the galaxy. Bastila began recording the information on the map into her datapad while Carth studied the map through narrowed eyes.

"Anyone else get the feeling that Krayt dragon we had to deal with earlier was more than just a coincidence?"

Bastila finished her typing and stowed the datapad back in the pocket of her Jedi robes. "This star map is an artifact of the dark side. Its power likely drew the creature here, only to enslave it."

The pilot nodded. "Maybe. At any rate, we should probably get going now. We found what we were looking for and there's not much else on this planet worth seeing."

On the way back to the ship, the Jedi examined the data they had gathered from the two maps they had found so far.

"This fills in some of the gaps in the Dantooine map," said Bastila, "but not enough for us to be able to tell where the Star Forge may be. We need to keep searching."

"I doubt we'll find anything else here on Tatooine. That leaves Manaan, Kashyyyk, and Korriban."

"Kashyyyk and Korriban are equally close, but Manaan is somewhat further away," Bastila observed.

Andra looked up from the datapad with a smile. "Let's make Kashyyyk our next stop. I'll bet Zaalbar will be thrilled to be going home."

Strangely, the Wookiee did not seem at all pleased to hear the news, but he refused to explain why. "I have agreed to aid you in your quest for Mission's sake and for the sake of all the lives that the Sith will take if they succeed in conquering the galaxy, but I don't feel we share more than that. The others may choose to share personal details of their lives with you, but I will not unless it becomes necessary," was all he would say to Andra.

Between the time it had taken them to return to their ship, the time waiting for clearance to depart and the time the navicomputer took to calculate their hyperspace route to Kashyyyk, it was well into the night by the time the ship was safely in hyperspace, so after a last check that everything seemed to be in order, Carth sought his bunk. As usual, he woke early the next morning and went to the cockpit to double-check that their ship was still proceeding safely along its path toward the Wookiee homeworld. Gazing out at the swirl of hyperspace, he couldn't help thinking about Andra. _I really messed up when I suggested she's no better than Saul. Mission was right: I owe her an apology. _As if his thinking about her had conjured her up, he heard footsteps coming from the living area, followed shortly by the sound of her voice. "Oh, good morning, Bastila. Do I take it from the look on your face you also had the dream?"

"Yes, of course I shared the vision," answered the second voice in the unmistakable accent of the younger woman. "Could there be any doubt with the bond between us? The Force is guiding us, helping us retrace the steps of Malak and his old master. From what I could tell, the star map appears to be down on the planet's surface rather than up in the treetops where the Wookiees make their home."

_Damn, _Carth swore to himself. _Now would have been a good time to speak to Andra if she were alone. _Throughout the remainder of the trip, he continued to look for an opportunity to have a quiet word with her, but with seven people and two droids crowded into a ship the size of the _Ebon Hawk, _private conversations were all but impossible. If the soldier-turned-Padawan wasn't meditating with Bastila, she was usually trying—mostly futilely—to teach Mission to play dejarik, or otherwise engaged in some activity that involved the presence of other people. At one point, Carth found her sitting in the women's quarters talking with Juhani.

"So, tell me," Andra said, "how did you become a Jedi?"

The Cathar shifted uncomfortably on her bunk. "How I became a Jedi? It is not a very interesting story."

The human woman glanced at the door and saw Carth standing there. "No, please, go on."

"Very well. It goes back a number of years. Back on my homeworld, we did not see Jedi very often, especially where I lived. It was at the hind end of space… a pit of a world, to be sure, where Jedi rarely tread. Things had not been going so well of late; I was an orphan and about to be sold as a slave."

Andra sat up so fast she nearly banged her head against the wall. "A slave?"

"Yes. You live your comfortable lives on your Republic worlds, but there are places in the galaxy where its influence is very weak, or does not reach at all. Worlds where humans treat other species like dirt and slavery still exists. Such a place was the world where I was raised. My mother owed money to the Exchange, and when she died, they felt it appropriate that the debt pass on to me, and I had no money to pay, so they took me by force."

"What happened, then? How did you escape?"

"While they were still waiting for the buyer to give them credits, the Jedi came on the way to fight the Mandalorians. When I saw them, they lived up to everything my imagination had created them to be. I was awed, and maybe a bit enamored. They were quite striking, especially the tales of their leader. They could not abide what they saw there and drove the Exchange from the face of the world… temporarily, at least. But they soon left for the war, and I was left with a dream."

Andra nodded. "To become a Jedi."

Carth turned to go back to the cockpit. _Fine, you win… this time. But you can't avoid me forever. Sooner or later you _will _hear what I have to say._

He enlisted Mission's help to keep the crew occupied for a few minutes when they touched down on Kashyyyk so that he could have some privacy for his apology attempt. Andra went outside to take care of the usual bureaucratic hassle with the customs officials and he discretely followed. When she was finished, the official left and she began to walk further along the sawed off wroshyr branch that the Wookiees used for streets in their villages, but this time, he refused to let her go.

"Andra, wait!" he called, running after her. She paused, standing in front of one of the railings that marked the edges of the walkway, and Carth paused too to appreciate the view. The canopy of the forest above softened the light, making it fall in ever-changing patterns of rays, and below, the tops of the shorter trees created an endless sea of green shifting around the giant trunks of the taller trees. Against that backdrop stood Andra, her back almost but not quite turned toward him, and for a moment he simply stood there, watching the play of light and shadows on her dark hair and olive skin. The sight was almost enough to take his breath away. With renewed conviction, he approached to stand just behind and to the side of her. _I need to fix this, not just for the sake of the mission but for our own sake as well. I don't want to lose one of the few actual friends I've had since Telos. _"I…" Words suddenly failed him. _How do I even begin to make this up to her? _"Xendor's minions, I'm no good at this," he muttered to himself. "I'm sorry for what I said before. It was cruel and completely uncalled for. You're not Saul and I never should have compared you to him." She said nothing, only twisted to look up at him with an expectant expression. _ Blast it, Andra, if you aren't the most frustrating woman to talk to sometimes! I apologized and I meant it; the least you could do is give me some kind of reply. _"What more do you want me to say? I was wrong! I was a stubborn fool!" He let his hands fall to his sides. "Look… I'm a proud man; I have trouble admitting it when a beautiful woman has my number, okay?"

Andra's heart felt like it had lodged somewhere in the vicinity of her throat. "You think I'm beautiful?"

The smile he directed at her then held a hint of sadness. "You know I do. And it scares me sometimes that I can't stop thinking of you in that way no matter how much I've tried, that sometimes when I close my eyes, it isn't my wife's face I see anymore—it's yours. You're a beautiful and impressive woman; in some ways—good ways—you remind me of her, and I'd like to make things right between us. So I'm sorry. Will you accept my apology?"

Time seemed to Andra to slow, and with Carth so near that their bodies were nearly touching, every nerve felt like a live wire. Mixed with the scent of the forest was a collection of smells that was uniquely him: the leather of the vest he wore, along with the oil that he used to clean his blasters and the sweat that inevitably found its way into any soldier's fighting gear and the soap from his recent shower. Just a few wisps of curly dark chest hair peeked out from under the vest, but the glimpse only served to tantalize her with memories of the one time she had seen him shirtless. _A pity we were too busy yelling at each other for me to appreciate the view back then. _His hair was neatly combed back, except for a few stray locks falling down across his forehead that her hand ached to smooth back. Even the flickering sunlight seemed to be conspiring to prevent any sort of rational thought on her part as it highlighted the hint of a beard ringing his very masculine lips. _Oh, who am I kidding? I can never stay angry with him for long, especially not after an apology like that. _"Yes, Carth, I forgive you."

For several moments they stood there, neither of them moving. They were close enough he could feel her breath against his lips and it was a act of extreme will that kept his eyes locked on hers. With her black hair pulled back in a neat bun and the material of her jumpsuit hugging her well-toned body and the shifting light of the forest softly illuminating one side of her face, he thought she looked almost as beautiful as the night of the Sith party on Taris, and he fought the sudden, irrational urge to take her in his arms and kiss her as he had back then until she forgot all about being angry with him. From the way her hands trembled, he knew she was having similar thoughts, and he coughed nervously. "I... uh... really think we should…er… get going." Still, neither of them moved a muscle until the sound of footsteps and an unfamiliar voice broke the spell.

"Carth? Carth Onasi, is that you?"

The red-faced commander turned to face the newcomer. After a moment of confusion, recognition crossed his features. "Jordo?"

The other man smiled broadly. "It is you! I thought I recognized your voice. How've you been, you old spacedog?"

Carth shrugged. "Surviving. Life hasn't been exactly wonderful for me lately, as I'm sure you can imagine."

Jordo nodded. "It's a shame about home. Telos still hasn't recovered. The family and I have moved on and I'm working for Czerka now, which is what brought me here. What about you? Odd seeing you groundside… I thought for sure you'd be fighting on some ship out there."

"I was. I crashed." The soldier kept his voice light, but Andra could tell that the levity was forced. His friend, however, responded with a hearty guffaw as if the humor was genuine.

"That's pretty rich. I can't imagine what it would take to keep you on the ground." The Padawan watched the exchange with a thoughtful expression. _Is it that the Force is giving me more insight into his true feelings, or do I really know him better than this friend from his homeworld that he has clearly known for a long time?_ Jordo looked from Carth to her, a knowing expression on his face. "Must have something to do with your pretty friend here, eh? How do you do, miss?" He extended a hand to her, which she shook politely.

"We're not… I mean, it's…" Carth spluttered, turning redder by the second. "It's not like that with us, really. We're just friends. Partners, actually, on a mission for the Republic."

"If you say so. You know, nobody would blame you for moving on and finding love again. Morgana least of all. That reminds me, I never did see after you after… uh… what I mean is, my belated condolences. I heard what happened. At least your boy made it through alright, though, right?"

Carth took a step backward, grabbing at one of the posts of the railing for support as he nearly tripped over the rope. "Dustil's alive?"

"Yes; I saw him at my last stop, on Korriban. You… didn't know?"

"No! Jordo, he's been missing since the attack on Telos. Are you absolutely certain it was him?"

The man nodded. "Positive. He didn't recognize me, but I'd recognize him anywhere. He's… uh… he's joined the Sith, Carth."

"What do you mean, he's joined the Sith?"

"There's an academy on Korriban where the Sith train their recruits. He's a student there… I saw him suited up in the outfit of a dark Jedi, carrying a lightsaber and everything. I… I'm sorry; I thought you knew."

Carth released the post and straightened slowly. "No, I didn't. Thanks for telling me."

"Uh… no problem." Jordo glanced down at his wrist chrono. "I need to get going before my boss yells at me for being late, but it was good to catch up with you, Carth. I hope everything works out with you and Dustil." The soldier watched, motionless, as his friend continued along the walkway.

"Dustil's alive! We have to go to Korriban and find him!"

Andra nodded agreement. "If he's in training to be a dark Jedi, there's no time to lose. We can come back here after Korriban, assuming it's necessary."

The pilot sighed in relief. "Thank you. I don't know why he would be with the Sith, but I have to find out. I have to see him, know what happened to him. There's simply no choice."

Bastila very nearly had apoplexy when she heard when she heard about the change in plans, but at least she had the sense to take Andra outside the ship for some privacy before she began chewing the older woman out. "You told him what? No! We are _not _going to raise ship immediately. We travelled all this way from Tatooine; we should stay and search for the star map. We can go to Korriban after."

"Bastila, did you miss the part where his son is in training as a dark Jedi? Who knows how many days it might take us to find the star map, especially if it is on the forest floor as the vision we had last night seemed to suggest? The chances that we'll be able to turn him away from the Sith are low enough already and every day they get lower."

"Dustil Onasi is just one man. The lives of billions depend on our mission. How many more planets will share the fate of Telos and Taris in the time that we would waste chasing after this one boy? As Master Zhar and I have told you on more than one occasion, Jedi cannot afford to let personal concerns interfere with their duty as protectors of the galaxy."

Andra crossed her arms across her chest. "It's not personal. I would do the same for anyone else on this crew. Even Canderous, as much as I may dislike the Mandalorian personally."

Bastila raised an eyebrow skeptically. "Is that so? You might be willing to aid me, or Mission, or Canderous if any of us was in need, but would you be willing to literally go parsecs out of your way, delaying the completion of our mission by more than half a week? I think not."

The former soldier leaned back against the hull of the Ebon Hawk, crossing one leg over the other in the manner of someone making herself comfortable in preparation for a long wait. "Go ahead and say it; I'm sure you won't be happy until you do."

Bastila settled into an identical posture against one of the railing posts. "The Council and I have warned you time and again about the dangers of emotional attachments, and yet you continue to ignore us. Did I not explain to you clearly enough the dangers of the dark side? Do you not realize the power you wield?" As her agitation grew, she began to pace back and forth, the heels of her boots striking the wood of the landing pad with dull thuds. "Quite literally, you could be the savior of the galaxy or you could bring untold destruction on us all. Why do you take this responsibility so lightly?"

Andra's eyes narrowed in a glare. "You think I take it lightly? When have I ever given you reason to doubt my commitment to the light side? And my friendship with Carth doesn't count because, frankly, from where I'm standing, being willing to leave a child in the hands of the Sith for the sake of the mission looks a lot closer to the dark side than making a minor adjustment in itinerary to try to save said child."

Bastila paused in her pacing. "You're right. You have done an admirable job so far of resisting the temptation of the dark side. I just worry about you with your strong affinity for the Force and how rushed your training was. But that can't be helped, and more lectures from me will not improve matters any. Let us go to Korriban, then, to find the star map there and see what can be done to turn Carth's son away from the dark path he has started down. Just… be careful, please. I was not exaggerating when I spoke of the influence your decisions may have." The Padawan turned to walk back up the boarding ramp, leaving a very confused former ensign to follow in her wake. _Why me? What about her own part in all of this?_


	15. Chapter 15

a/n: Bioware owns all, and Sia is the awesomest beta ever. That is all.

* * *

The night before they were due to arrive on Korriban, Andra dreamed again. As in her previous visions, she watched through Revan's eyes, with Malak by her side. This time, the two Dark Lords were standing in front of a cave entrance sealed with heavy stone doors.

"The map is in here, I can feel it," Malak said. "I wonder if the ancient Sith Lords knew the secrets this planet hides. They must have—Naga Sadow is buried in this same cave—and yet we have no record of anyone before us finding the Star Forge." Revan reached out to the Force and, with a tremendous mental effort, thrust the doors open. As the master stepped into the waiting darkness, the apprentice remained behind, hesitating for just a heartbeat. "Why are we doing this? We fought a whole war to defend the Republic from the Mandalorians; how is it that now we are trying to overthrow it?"

"The Republic is weak, and it is the duty of the strong to conquer and rule over the weak."

Andra woke with a sleepy half-groan and glanced at the wrist chrono she kept by the head of her bed. _Just lovely. Earlier than I wanted to be awake, but too late for me to have any hope of falling asleep. _Despite the early hour, Carth had still woken ahead of her, as she discovered when she entered the living area and found him sitting in front of a bowl of cooked breakfast grains, made edible by the addition of generous amounts of sweetener and fruit, fully dressed in a blue-gray flight jacket and black pants.

"Good morning! You're up early," he greeted her, looking up from his breakfast.

"Says the person who was up even earlier. Don't you ever sleep?"

He ran a hand through his dark brown hair. "Of course I do, but I haven't really slept well since Telos. Especially not now when I'm worried about Dustil."

She laid a hand gently on his shoulder. "I know. We will find him, I promise, and do everything in our power to get him away from the Sith."

"Thanks," he said, reaching up to cover her hand with his own. "Part of me doesn't want to believe it's true that Dustil is training as a dark Jedi. I mean, it's weird enough thinking of him as a Jedi; that he would join the Sith just doesn't seem possible. But Jordo has no reason to lie to me, and he does know Dustil. And then I feel like the worst father in the world for giving up my son for dead when he's been alive this whole time."

Andra gently cupped his stubble-covered chin in her hands and tilted his face so that he was looking directly into her eyes. "Now you listen to me, Carth Onasi. This is _not _your fault. You did your best to find out what happened to him."

He let out a short, frustrated breath. "Did I, really? Sure, at the time it seemed like I had exhausted every lead I had, but now I can't help feeling like if I'd pushed a little harder, if I hadn't given up, I might have been able to find him and keep this from happening. I mean, I'm no Jedi, but I've overheard you and Bastila talking about the dark side and I know how seductive it's supposed to be, how hard it is to turn away from. What if we can't convince Dustil? What if he refuses to leave?" He sighed again. "Hell, I'm sorry, I didn't mean to dump everything on you like that. I just find you… I don't know, easy to talk to."

"No, I don't mind at all. That's what friends are for, among other things, right?" She settled into the seat next to him and laid a hand on top of his on the table. "I'm here for you if you want to talk."

"Thank you. I just… I just can't stand the thought that if he stays with the Sith, I might have to fight him someday. That I might give the order to fire on a Sith ship and, maybe without even realizing it, kill my own son. Losing my family once nearly broke me. I can't lose him twice. I… I don't think I'd come back from that, Andi."

She turned to offer him a hug, and this time he did not refuse the embrace. "Don't give up hope. If there's a way to save him, we'll find it."

Carth opened his mouth to speak, but Bastila chose that moment to make her appearance and he changed his mind. The Padawan refrained from commenting on the scene before her, but Andra could feel the disapproval radiating from her in the Force, and she reluctantly released the pilot and went to get herself some breakfast. Only later did her mind register the nickname he'd called her.

When the _Ebon Hawk _reached Korriban later that day, the situation they found was enough to almost make the former soldier wish she had stayed on Tatooine. Similar to their previous stop, the world was too dry to support much in the way of native flora and fauna, and had only one large settlement, a small colony called Dreshdae.

"Why couldn't we have stayed on Kashyyyk?" wondered Mission. "At least it was pretty. Did the people who made these star maps have some sort of objection to planets with actual life on them?"

Bastila stared out the viewport at the landing bay their ship rested in. "This planet has a long history with the dark side; it is not surprising to find an artifact of such dark power as a star map here. Or perhaps it was the presence of the star map that, whether consciously or unconsciously, drew the Sith to this place. It matters little for our purpose; what matters is that according to the vision Andra and I had, the star map is located in the Valley of the Dark Lords, which is on the other side of the Sith Academy from where we stand now."

"There may be a back way into the valley," the other human woman suggested. "We'll have to see what information we can pick up here in the colony. And on that subject, Bastila, would the Sith not recognize you?"

The younger woman put a hand to her chin in thought. "You may be right. Most of the Sith would only know my name, but a few might recognize my face. For the safety of our mission, I should stay on the Ebon Hawk while we are here."

The rest of the crew set out to perform some preliminary investigation in the colony. They quickly discovered two things: First, that the Sith academy was almost the sole focus of the planet. Except for a handful of smugglers and other fringe types and the only slightly more honest Czerka employees, everybody in Dreshdae was either a Sith or hoping to become one. Second, that only Sith students were allowed into the academy and the valley behind it, where they were performing excavations on the tombs of the ancient Sith Lords. And in order to be accepted to the academy, one had to gain the recommendation of a current student. Everywhere they went in the colony, they saw the current students lording this power over the many hopefuls. In one of the plazas, three hopefuls stood before a young man in a Sith uniform.

"No, no, that is the wrong answer!" the Sith taunted mercilessly. "You pathetic hopefuls can't possibly all be this stupid, can you?"

"Please, Master Shaardan, forgive us. Give us another chance. We'll do anything to get into the academy," one of the hopefuls pleaded, actually falling to her knees in her desperation.

Shaardan smiled maliciously. "Hmm… I'm no master… yet… but I like the sound of that. Alright, you get one more chance, though I doubt you idiots will do any better than before. Say you are at some point accepted into the ranks of the Sith and placed under my command. I give you a direct order to spare the life of an enemy. Do you obey?"

"Of course, Shaardan! Anything you say!" the female hopeful answered.

"We would never oppose you," the second hopeful agreed. Andra shook her head at the fawning tone in his voice. _I can't believe these people are so desperate to join the Sith!_

"No, no, wrong again!" Shaardan exclaimed in exasperation. "Mercy is weakness. If your leader shows weakness, it is your duty to show true strength by killing him or her. This is why the Sith are strong."

"Thank you, Shaardan; we understand now," said the third hopeful.

"No, you don't, and I doubt you ever will. You wouldn't survive five seconds in the academy; the other students would tear you apart. Bah, maybe I should just save you the trouble and kill you myself." At that moment his eyes fell on the group observing the scene. "You! Jedi!" he barked at the woman standing at the front of the group. "You're looking to get into the academy, right?"

Andra nodded. "What of it?"

"These pathetic hopefuls are in need of a lesson, but I am at a loss as to what form it should take. Shall I turn their skin inside out? Or perhaps Force lightning; it is a most impressive display… yes…" He stroked his chin, sounding pleased at the idea. "Or maybe I should leave them alive but humiliated. I could strip off their tunics and make them run naked through the colony. Or they could lose all control of their bodily functions. What do you think? I am exhausted from dealing with their mewling, so please decide for me."

She looked from the young Sith to the hapless hopefuls he was tormenting and back. "Let them go. That is my decision."

The Sith laughed. "Really? And what could possibly convince me to do that?"

The Padawan's jaw tightened with anger. _He's just a bully. A bully with Force powers. _"Because I'll kill you if you don't."

"Oh?" The Sith raised an eyebrow. "My, but I don't remember the last time someone stood up to me like that. You might make a good Sith if it weren't for your misguided merciful impulses." He turned to the three hopefuls. "Let this woman's backbone be a lesson to you idiots. Now get out of here before I change my mind."

The hopefuls fled with all possible haste while Shaardan departed in the opposite direction. Andra watched them go, every muscle in her body still tense with anger, and Carth watched her. "I'm glad you convinced that Sith to let those people go, but don't you think threatening him was a little extreme?"

The Padawan flushed. "I got a bit carried away there. I just can't stand to see people prey on the weak like that. Like scavengers, hurting people precisely when they most need help. But to business: I don't think all of us are going to be able to get inside the academy. Juhani and I can pose as fallen Jedi looking to join the Sith—"

"I'm coming too. My son is in there."

She saw the determination on Carth's face and nodded. _If anyone can reach Dustil, it's him. _"We'll think of something."

Apprehension suddenly clouded his features at the mischievous smirk on her face. "Uh-oh, I don't know if I like the sound of that."

Her smile broadened. "Why not? Didn't you enjoy the last time we infiltrated a group of Sith under false pretenses? I did."

"I'm… uh… glad things are better between us now," he said, shifting his weight nervously, "but don't push it, alright?"

Andra burst out laughing. "Relax, I was just teasing."

"Oh." The pilot's face reddened in embarrassed amusement. "Damn it, woman, if you keep hounding me, I'm going to put you over my knee and teach you a lesson!"

The grin she directed at him then had a decidedly naughty edge to it. "Is that a promise?" she asked coyly.

He chuckled. "Oh no, I'm not even going there, sister. Anyway, just… try to find another cover story this time, please? Unless it's as an absolute last resort."

"Okay, I will," she relented. "So Juhani and I have just become two more hopefuls in a colony full of them. Time to go attract the attention of someone who can get us into the academy. The rest of you… see if you can learn anything helpful. We'll be in touch."

Canderous, Mission, and Zaalbar went to rejoin Bastila and the droids back at the ship while Juhani, Carth, and Andra went in search of a Sith to recommend them for admission to the academy. Outside the cantina, they were stopped by a Twi'lek woman covered in purple tattoos and wearing the robes of a Sith Master.

"You there, Jedi!"

Andra paused. "Yes? What do you want?"

The woman studied her quizzically. "Do you not know who I am? You must not have been on Korriban very long. That or else you've been wandering about blindly if you hope to get into the academy."

The Padawan forced herself not to lower her eyes despite the censure in the other woman's words. _Remember, the Sith only respect strength and power._ "Yes, we only just arrived today."

The Twi'lek flicked her head-tails in the human equivalent of a nod. "I thought as much; I didn't recognize you as one of the colonists or a student at the academy. Luckily for you, I am feeling merciful. I am Yuthura Ban, second in command to Master Uthar, headmaster of the Sith Academy. Among my responsibilities is deciding which of the many prospective students are actually accepted. Or do I not assume correctly that you have come here to join the ranks of the Sith?"

"Yes," Andra answered. "That's exactly why I have come."

Yuthura nodded in satisfaction. "So you are just another hopeful… or you seem that way on the surface. But there is something odd about you under the surface that I can't quite put my finger on. From your lightsaber, I see you are a Jedi. One who is very strong in the Force, I feel. So, tell me, were you part of the Order for very long? How much training do you have?"

The human tucked a stray lock of hair behind her ear to give her a moment to consider her answer. "Some, but not a lot, if you must know."

"I see. How interesting that they would let one with such power escape their grasp. Or did they send you to spy on us?" The Sith snorted derisively. "For all the good it would do them. Either way, your raw power intrigues me. With that kind of strength, you could be a great Sith… if I let you. Does that interest you?"

"Yes, absolutely." _Oh, please let her believe me._

The Sith Master smiled. "Excellent. Just the answer I was hoping for. I will take you to the academy, then, to meet Master Uthar. I have just one question: I see your Cathar companion here is also a Jedi, but what of the man?"

"Oh, he's no Jedi. He serves as a pilot and bodyguard for my friend and me. With your permission, I would like for him to stay with us in the academy."

"Fair enough, as long as he does not interfere with your training or cause any trouble. Are you ready to go then?"

Carth flashed Andra a relieved smile behind Yuthura's back, which she answered in kind, as they followed the Sith Master from the colony.

The entrance to the Sith academy was not far outside of Dreshdae itself. The building was at least a dozen meters tall and made of pure stone, built into and around the mountains surrounding the Valley of the Dark Lords. Everywhere she looked, or so it seemed to Andra, were various statues of humanoid figures, either freestanding or doubling as pillars to support the massive ceiling. Some reached to several times a human's natural height. _The sheer amount of work that must have gone into creating this place… then again, knowing the Sith it's entirely possible all of it was done by slaves. _She suppressed a shudder at the thought. When they arrived inside, the headmaster was already gathered with a group of other students, including Shaardan. Master Uthar gave the newcomers assessing glances. "What do you bring me, Yuthura? A pair of late entries, bristling with the Force?"

The Twi'lek nodded. "Both have had some training, it seems, Master. I thought them very promising."

Shaardan let out a bark of laughter. "Promising? The woman has spirit, I'll grant you, but she lacks the proper mindset of a Sith. Not worthy to lick spit off your shoes, Master, if you ask me."

"I didn't ask you," the older man rebuked. "And I'll judge for myself who is worthy or not. Now, you are all here because you wish to become Sith and each of you has displayed some affinity for the Force. All of you have the potential to become true Sith, but only the one that impresses me the most in training will be chosen. The rest of you must wait until next year and try again, assuming you survive that long. My apprentice, Yuthura, will be your teacher and master in the ways of the Sith. Heed her words well in the days and weeks ahead. Welcome to the dark side, children… your one chance at true greatness lies here." With that, Yuthura led the students down one of the flagstone-tiled hallways branching off from the Sith Academy's large central chambers and showed them each to their assigned quarters before instructing them to report at 0800 the next morning for their first lesson.

Once they were settled in their quarters, Andra and Carth left to take a brief tour of the building, both to familiarize themselves with the layout and in hopes of running into Dustil along the way, while Juhani returned to the _Ebon Hawk_ to retrieve her things. South of the central chamber was the door leading back to Dreshdae, while to the north was the door leading to the Valley of the Dark Lords. Student and teacher quarters were to the west, while the chambers on the east were dedicated to meditation, sparring, and study, as well as a lone force cage for the occasional prisoner. Returning to the area dedicated to living quarters, the pair inadvertently found themselves at a dead-end.

"You take a wrong turn?" While the voice was not quite the slightly raspy tenor which had become so familiar to Andra, it was similar enough to freeze her blood in her veins. And despite slight differences in hair and eye color, the Onasi features were quite clearly stamped upon the face of this boy who looked to be within a year or so of Mission's age. Carth shouldered his way past where his companion had frozen in the hallway until he came face to face with his only child for the first time in over two years.

"Dustil?" His gaze was fixed on his son's face, noting all the minor differences from the last time they had seen each other. _He's several centimeters taller, for one thing. If he keeps growing like this, he'll be at least as tall as me by the time he's done. And where did he get that scar on his forehead? Is it from the attack or something that happened… after? But it's really him. He's here, alive, in front of me and that's the closest thing to a miracle I ever expected to see._ In his joy and relief, he failed to notice the warning signs of trouble on Dustil's face.

"Oh, lovely; it's Father. Figures that you'd show up after all this time. How'd you get inside the academy?"

Andra stole a sidelong glance at Carth and, seeing the pilot would likely be several more seconds recovering from the shock of his son's harsh greeting, answered for him. "Through the front doors, naturally."

The younger Onasi rolled his eyes. "Cute. Very cute. I wonder how interested Master Uthar would be to know just what kind of company he has here. Unless you've switched sides, father? But I doubt that. Just why are you here anyway? Not for me, I hope. Couldn't you have gotten yourself blown up on some ship and spared us this reunion?"

"Dustil… what? Why are you so angry? I thought you were dead until just a few days ago." When Carth finally found his voice, it was even rougher than usual, but his son continued on mercilessly.

"Too bad you didn't still think that. Or did you really think I would be happy to see you?" He spread his arms wide, false enthusiasm in his face and his tone. "Look, everyone! It's father, come to rescue me at long last! Sure, he may have left Mother and me to die on Telos, but that doesn't matter!"

Andra could see the commander's Adam's apple bob as he swallowed against the sobs that threatened to choke off all intelligible speech. "No, I didn't abandon you. My task force arrived just a few minutes too late. Telos was in ruins, and your mother… I held her while…" He lost the battle briefly and paused to swipe at the salty tears that trickled down his cheeks. "And I looked for you. I swear, I looked everywhere, and the second I learned you were alive here, I dropped everything to come find you."

"Ah, save it," Dustil scoffed. "You left us alone all during the wars and even when you came back, you still didn't stay."

"With your mother gone and you thought to be dead as well, what reason did I have to stay? Before that… I didn't have a choice. I was needed—"

"Yeah, well, you were needed at home, too. You were needed when the bombardment started and I got captured." The teenager's tone was still angry and defiant, but there was a brittle, almost desperate edge in his words and in the way his hands were clenched into fists at his side. For the first time, Andra thought she could sense a hint of the 12-year-old boy who had watched in terror as his world and his home went up in flames.

"Dustil…"

The teenager turned to glare at her. "What are you doing with him anyway? Are you his new girlfriend?"

"No," both Carth and Andra answered in unison.

"I was a soldier under his command before I became a Jedi," the Padawan added. "Probably still am, technically."

"Whatever," Dustil replied with a dismissive wave of the hand. "It doesn't matter anyway. I have a new family now, a family that cares about me. I don't need you anymore, father."

The elder Onasi's jaw dropped. "The Sith? No, you can't mean that! The Sith killed your mother! They destroyed Telos!"

"So?" his son retorted. "You're a soldier; how many mothers and fathers have you killed?"

"It's not the same at all. The Sith war to conquer, to rule the helpless. I went to war for you, Dustil, to protect you. To protect your freedom, your future."

Dustil laughed derisively. "I don't believe you. You fought for yourself, for glory, and mother and I were just an afterthought next to that. Well, the Sith can do that too."

"No!" Carth gasped. "You've been brainwashed. The son I knew would never—"

"You don't know me!" the teenager screamed. "You weren't ever there to know me! So don't presume to tell me what I would or wouldn't do."

The father's face settled into a mask of stony determination. "I don't know what they've done to you, but you're coming out of here with us, right now." He grabbed for Dustil's wrist, but the boy took a step backward, his hand dropping to the lightsaber clipped at his waist as he settled into a fighting stance.

"Touch me, old man, and I'll kill you. Get out! Get out before I tell the Sith who you are!" With the split-second precognition of a Jedi, Andra saw Carth dart forward anyway and his son draw his lightsaber in preparation for a killing blow. Gathering all her strength in the Force, she _pushed_, and both father and son stumbled backwards to smack against the walls. The scarlet blade hovered just centimeters from the pilot's heart, slicing through the air where he had been only miliseconds before, and Andra's hands shook from the sudden jolt of adrenaline to see how close they had come to disaster.

"Stop this! Dustil, Carth is only trying to protect you. Carth… force isn't going to accomplish anything here."

"I don't need his protection. Not anymore," Dustil snapped, but he thumbed a button on the hilt of his blade and the energy beam retreated with a crackle-hiss. "The Sith give me everything I need."

"Please don't do this, Dustil," Carth pleaded. "If I failed you, then it's my failure. Please don't add to it by becoming part of something evil."

"Prove it," the would-be Sith challenged. "Prove the Sith are as evil as you say and I'll think about it. I won't tell anyone you're here… for now. You find some proof and bring it to me. I don't want to see either of you again until then, and if I hear you've been asking questions about me, or doing anything to compromise my standing here in the academy, the deal's off. You got that, father?"

Carth nodded, rubbing at the back of his head where he had banged it against the stone wall. "I got it, Dustil. I'll be back; I swear it. I'm not giving up on you."

His son let out a snort of laughter. "That's a surprise. I gave up on you long ago. So did mother, for that matter."

The soldier shrunk back against the wall, doubled over slightly and clutching his stomach as if the words had been a physical punch. "Please don't say that."

"Whatever. Just go. I've got things to do and you have proof to look for."


	16. Chapter 16

A/N: The usual. KotOR and its characters belong to Bioware, thank you to Sia for being such a great beta, blah blah blah etc. etc. etc. Let's get to the chapter already, shall we? (And hopefully the next one will be sooner in coming)

* * *

On their way back to their quarters, Andra snuck frequent glances at her soldier companion out of the corner of her eye. He was silent, but the hint of tension in his face and his walk betrayed the pain she knew he had to be feeling. _If my long lost son had just yelled at me like that, I'd be… _She shook her head. _Honestly, I don't know what I'd be feeling, but I can guarantee it wouldn't be good. _When they reached his room, she hesitated just inside the door. _I feel like I should say something, but what? What's there to do at this point besides try to find Dustil his proof and hope that it's enough? _She turned away, but a gentle hand on her arm stopped her.

"Don't go, please." He held out his arms in silent appeal and as Andra approached to hug him, he clung to her as desperately as if he were a drowning swimmer and she was the life preserver thrown in to save him. She could feel the shaking of his shoulders against her body and the silent tears that fell from his eyes to soak through the shoulder of her tunic, and she thought her heart might break for him. _So much has gone wrong in his life, and now even when it seems like something is finally going right, it still manages to go wrong. How much pain can one person endure before it becomes too much to bear? _Still, she did her best to comfort him, caressing his back soothingly and murmuring meaningless reassurances until finally, after several minutes, he drew a shaky breath and loosened his grip. When he raised his face, it seemed to Andra to belong to someone much older than Carth's 38 years: it was far too tired, and lined by years of grief, to be the face of a man who should have still been in the prime of his life. "That..." He brushed tears away from his eyes, already red and puffy from crying. "I don't know what the Sith did to Dustil, but that was not the son I raised. I can't believe he actually tried to kill me. Thank you, by the way, for stepping in. As badly as that went, it would have been a lot worse without your help."

She smiled weakly and reached up to wipe away a few of the tears he had missed. "I couldn't just let him kill you. I only wish there was more I could have done."

Carth shook his head. "I don't think there was. He was so full of anger and hate… I wasn't expecting that. Though maybe I should have. Is that what the dark side is like?"

"It's a little more complicated than that, but yes. As Bastila told me once, it twists you up and turns you into a mockery of everything you once were and believed in. I'm just so sorry it happened to your son."

"Not half as sorry as I am," the commander muttered, releasing his grip on Andra to pace restlessly up and down the length of his room. "He wants us to prove the Sith are evil, but what proof can we offer him? Taris? If he doesn't care that the Sith killed his own mother and destroyed his home, he won't care about somebody else's. Hell, if he can overlook _that_, what won't he try to rationalize? What proof would be good enough for him?"

"I don't know. But there's still something there, some trace of the boy he used to be. He's not too far gone to listen; that much I'm sure of." She stifled a yawn. "That's not from talking to you, I promise," she explained hastily. "It's been a long day and I have to be up bright and early for lessons tomorrow."

He nodded. "Fair enough. We're just going around in circles here anyway… I guess we'll have to see what proof we can find and hope for the best. I'm not giving up on him this time… not until I've tried everything humanly possible."

"Neither am I," she promised.

"And thank you again… it helps to hear you say you think there's still hope for him."

The pair exchanged a brief hug before preparing for sleep. Carth settled on the cot the Sith had placed on the floor for him while Andra climbed into the room's lone bed. For several minutes she tossed and turned, trying not to think about the man sleeping just a few feet away from her, but that only served to make her even more aware of his presence. She shifted again and settled back onto her pillow with a sigh. _The Force must have a sense of humor to keep putting us in the same room. This is going to be a long night, and a very long day tomorrow, if I can't get to sleep. _She began to breathe in the slow, even pattern of a Jedi calming exercise. _There is no emotion, there is peace. There is no ignorance, there is knowledge. There is no passion, there is serenity. There is no chaos, there is harmony. There is no death, there is the Force. _Eventually she drifted off into a peaceful slumber.

She awoke the next morning to the uniquely annoying blare that is a defining characteristic of all alarm chronos, and when she saw Carth sitting on the cot next to her bed, the matter of Dustil returned to trouble her mind.

"How are you this morning?" she asked.

"I'm fine," he answered, and Andra raised an eyebrow_. _He sounded anything but. "Or I will be once I have my son back and Saul pays for what he did to him and to my wife."

"We'll see what we can do about that first part today," she promised. As she went about preparing for her upcoming lessons, she continued to think of how they could get Dustil the evidence he had demanded. _If anyone would have some proof of evil things happening in the academy, it would be Master Uthar or… well, of all the coincidences. _She sensed Yuthura's presence approaching a few seconds before the knock on her door came, and quickly finished zipping up her jumpsuit before Carth opened the door to admit the Sith Master. The Twi'lek smirked when she saw the pilot standing at the doorway clad in only a pair of trousers with Andra behind him, still not fully dressed. "Ah, there you are," she greeted the woman. "My favorite prospect for the year. I wondered where you had gotten to when I was looking for you last night, but I see you were… otherwise occupied."

Andra closed her eyes and let out a sigh of annoyance. _Why does everyone automatically jump to conclusions about Carth and me? _"Well, I'm here now. Why were you looking for me? And why did you call me 'your favorite prospect'?"

"Because it's true. In my estimation, you are far more likely than any of the others to catch Master Uthar's eye. In raw power, you far exceed any of them, even your Cathar companion, and you have the benefit of training. In fact, I am so convinced that you will be the one my Master chooses to make a full Sith that I am here to offer you a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. Are you interested?"

Andra shot her a suspicious glare as she gathered her hair back in its usual bun, tying it in place with a short piece of scarlet ribbon. "How am I supposed to answer that without knowing what this opportunity involves?"

The Twi'lek shook her head, setting her head-tails swaying. "You're too much a Jedi still. If you want power, you must set aside their passive acceptance and take your fate into your own hands, take chances."

"And I repeat: what is this risk that is so worth taking? How do I know this isn't some kind of trick to ruin my chances at ever becoming a Sith?" She reached for her cloak and fastened it around her shoulders to cover her sudden flash of amusement. _Heh, I sound like Carth now. He must be rubbing off on me. Here, though, that's probably a good thing. Treachery is the way of the Sith, after all._

Yuthura chuckled. "You obviously don't understand the Sith very well yet. If Master Uthar even suspected what I have in mind, whether it was true or not, he would hardly stop to ask too many questions before ensuring I was dealt with… permanently. But I will tell you: as I said, you are no doubt the one my master will choose to become a Sith this year. When that happens, he will take you to the Tomb of Naga Sadow for the final test."

Andra nearly dropped the boot she was putting on in astonishment, but she feigned idle curiosity. "What can you tell me about this tomb?"

"Not as much as I'd like," the Sith answered. "We have been excavating some of the other tombs of the ancient Sith Lords buried in this valley, but Revan and Malak sealed the tomb of Naga Sadow when they first came to Korriban, probably to limit access to the star map they found there. Now only Master Uthar has access, and even I don't know how he gets in, though I look forward to learning. But the tomb itself is not important. What is important is that you and I will be alone with him then. The perfect chance to… arrange for a change in the academy's leadership, shall we say?"

The Padawan paused in the process of lacing up her boot. "You want me to help you kill Master Uthar?"

"Is that such a daunting task? It's not as if I'm asking you to do this alone, or as if you will get nothing out of it. In exchange for your aid in killing my master, I would help you gain an advantage over the other students, and when I become headmaster of the academy, I would make you my second in command. And if you have some interest in the tomb of Naga Sadow, this is also the only way you will ever see it."

The human woman hesitated. _She may be able to smooth my path to the star map, but even assuming I can trust her, would it be right to accept such a bargain? _Then a shadow of a plan began to form in her mind. "Very well… I accept."

The smile the Twi'lek directed at her pupil was more reminiscent of the snarl of a predator about to leap than any sort of friendly gesture. "Excellent; I'm so glad you see things my way. I will begin to make preparations for your final test, then. Your only concern is to get there, and that path begins with your first lesson in half an hour. I expect to see some impressive work from you." With that, she swept from the room, the door closing behind her.

The Jedi could feel Carth's gaze on her as she finished lacing up her boots, and once she tied the last knot, she settled back on her bed. "Alright, what is it?"

"I know that look: you didn't just agree to Yuthura's plan for the fun of it. You're up to something. So tell me what's going on in that tricky little mind of yours."

"A plan to convince Dustil to leave the Sith, I hope."

His eyes lit up. "Really? What is it and what do you need me to do?"

She smiled. _He looks so different when he's hopeful. _"I have a couple more arrangements I need to make, but what I need you to do is go to the Ebon Hawk this morning while everyone is focused on lessons and sneak Mission into the Academy. We might need her computer skills to slice the encryption on any information we find."

"I can do that, but please, Andi… you can't leave me out of the loop on this one. This is my son we're talking about."

"Like I said, I still have some more preparations to make." She dropped her hand from where it had been resting against the wall, her gaze following. "Maybe I shouldn't have said anything yet. I don't want to get your hopes up only for you to be disappointed again if it doesn't work out."

He reached out to take her hand. "No, I'm glad you did. And I understand if some things are still uncertain, but could you at least tell me the general plan?"

"Alright. I think that if I play Yuthura and Uthar off against each other, at some point I'll get a chance to access one, or perhaps both, of their files. If anyone knows about evil things happening at the academy, it will be one of them."

A worried frown creased his face. "That makes a lot of sense, but be careful if you go through with this plan that the act doesn't become reality."

The frown she directed at him in return was a little puzzled. "You mean you're afraid I might fall to the dark side?"

"Yes." He reached out to take her other hand, his brown eyes holding hers as if he hoped by the sheer intensity of his gaze to add weight to his words, and right then, all the lessons in the world couldn't have moved her from that spot. The sight of dark swirls of chest hair against his well-muscled torso, the feeling of his skin against hers and the tickling of his warm, moist breath on her forehead were sending shivers up and down her spine… and a few other places as well. _One of these days, I'd love to get him alone and make him feel just how crazy he drives me in moments like this. _"I don't pretend to know much about the Force, but I know evil, and the Sith are it. Here, especially, I think it would be very easy to get caught up in that. At first, you mean well, but that first line you cross leads to others, and the more you do it, the more it changes you, until one day you look in the mirror and wonder how you ever got to become who you are. I've been there, and it's not pretty. I'd hate to see that happen to you."

Andra's heart felt like it was trying to beat its way right out of her chest, and it took almost all the concentration she had left to remember how to breathe. "That's sweet. I didn't think you cared for me like that."

He immediately blushed bright red. "That's not what I… I mean, I wouldn't want to see you hurt. You or Bastila or Juhani. I suppose this mission is more important than your training… or your safety… but I hope there isn't a price for you to pay." He gave her hands a gentle squeeze. "Good luck in training today and I'll see what Mission and I can come up with as far as getting her into the Academy."

"Good luck to you too."

For the first part of the day's lessons, they were broken up according to experience with a lightsaber. Most of Andra's fellow students were set to deflecting laser bolts from practice remotes under the supervision of one of the lower-ranked instructors while Yuthura led her and Juhani to a room containing several caged tuk'ata.

"Both of you have trained with the Jedi, so I expect you have more than adequate experience in deflecting blaster bolts and sparring against a single opponent. Now, those are certainly important skills to practice, and there will be plenty of opportunity for you to do so in the course of your lessons here at the Academy, but just as important—and frequently overlooked in Jedi training—is knowing how to fight multiple enemies." The Sith motioned to the cages against the wall. "There are enough tuk'ata here for each of you to face three. I will judge your performance based on time, and, should you be so unfortunate or incompetent as to be injured in the battle, that will also affect the report I give Master Uthar. Now, human, let us see the use you make of your power."

She stepped back and pressed a button on the control panel and the doors on three of the cages opened, leaving the starving beasts free to attack. They went straight for Andra, and the Padawan barely managed to jump out of the way of the first animal's leap. She sent the other two flying into the wall with a well-timed push of the Force and, in the brief second that gave her, spun and sliced into the first tuk'ata with a sweeping stroke that severed its head from the rest of its body. The other two were starting to recover, so she settled into her ready stance, opening herself to the Force. She could feel the blind aggression in the creatures like a knot, a tangle in the web of instincts and motivations that made up their primitive minds, and she knew a split second before it happened when one of the beasts darted in to bite at her hamstring. With a slight shift, she put her leg out of range of the attack and brought her blade up to stab right through its heart. Before the final tuk'ata could make its move, Andra brought her arm back and, with a practiced flick of her wrist, sent her lightsaber spinning toward it. When the weapon returned, she powered it off and holstered it back at her waist, her breath already quickening slightly from the brief exertion.

"20 seconds," Master Yuthura announced, looking up from her wrist chrono. "Not bad for a first time." She turned to the Cathar. "Once someone cleans up these bodies, we will see how you fare in comparison."

For the second part of the day's lessons, all the new Sith were gathered together in a room which, in a twisted sort of way, reminded Andra of the Jedi Academy on Dantooine. _Or more like a mirror image of it. The rooms themselves are very similar, but everything else is completely opposite. Dantooine was, for the most part, full of peace and light. Here, it's almost as if you can feel the hatred of all the Sith that have lived on this planet throughout the centuries. Like a bloodstain of sorts._

Yuthura stepped to the front of the room and the background hum of conversation among the students immediately ceased."Peace is a lie, there is only passion," she began to recite. "Through passion I gain strength. Through strength I gain power. Through power I gain victory. Through victory, my chains are broken. The Force shall free me. For millennia, this has been the code we Sith live by. The words are deceptively simple in appearance, but easily misunderstood. Take victory, for example. How many different kinds can you imagine? Peaceful victory? Victory by sacrifice? A truce? A common misconception among outsiders is that the Sith believe in victory by any means necessary. This is not exactly true. Unless the victory comes by demonstrating that your power is superior, it is temporary at best. An illusion. We seek more." Andra raised a hand and Yuthura flicked a head-tail in her direction. "Yes?"

"What do you mean by 'Peace is a lie, there is only passion'?"

The Sith Master nodded. "I am not surprised that you would be the one to ask that. What is it your Jedi Code says? 'There is no emotion, there is peace'? The Jedi would have you believe that peace is something to be desired, that peace of spirit is the key to mastering the Force. We know better. What fuels your power with the Force but your passion, your anger, hatred, fear, and desire?"

"What about love? Isn't love a passion too? People have been willing to do almost anything for the sake of someone they care for." The former soldier could hear Bastila's voice in her mind almost as clearly as if she were present in the room. _You might be willing to aid me, or Mission, or Canderous if any of us was in need, but would you be willing to literally go parsecs out of your way?_

"Love is the most dangerous passion of all. It can lead to anger and fear more often than not, but it can also lead to mercy, which is far worse. But that is a lesson we can discuss in detail another time. Does anyone else have something they would like me to explain?" A hand raised toward the front of the room. "Yes, Mekel?"

"What does it mean, 'Through victory my chains are broken'?"

"An excellent question, and one that the Sith Lords of old frequently debated. The chains represent restrictions, both those others impose on us and those we place upon ourselves. Our goal is to free ourselves from these limitations. Only then can we reach our full potential. Perfect strength, perfect power, perfect freedom. Just imagine it! But this ideal is very hard to reach in reality. There is a prophecy that one day such a perfect being—a Sith'ari—will exist and lead us. The legends say that he, or she, will break us and at the same time make us stronger than ever. But perhaps they are just that: legends. I personally think perfection is more like a journey than a destination to be reached."

The discussion continued for several more minutes. When it was over and the students were dismissed, Andra spotted Master Uthar near the front of the room. A quick sweep of the area with her Jedi senses confirmed that Yuthura had already left. _Good. The perfect time to advance my plan._

The headmaster of the Sith academy nodded politely in greeting when he saw her pause in front of him. "It's… Andra, yes? Yuthura told me about your performance in lessons this morning. Three tuk'ata in 20 seconds and not a scratch. Impressive indeed."

The Padawan swallowed nervously. _I must be insane to be doing this. Then again, I probably lost any claim to sanity the minute I accepted this mission to find the Star Forge and stop the Sith from taking over the galaxy. _"On the subject of Master Yuthura, I have some news I think you will be very interested to hear."

"Oh? What is my apprentice up to now?"

Andra clenched her hands slightly to resist the urge to smooth back the stray bangs that inevitably worked their way loose of her bun. "She wants me to help her kill you at the final trial."

Uthar merely raised an eyebrow. "Is that so? How… ironic that she has begun her plotting. I have been watching her growing ambition for some time, and had in fact already decided to remove her. With what you have told me, I think the best way is to turn her own plan back on her. As part of the final trial, the chosen student would normally fight one of the failed students. This year, it will be Yuthura who fights, though she doesn't know it yet. Perhaps it will even be you who battles her." His expression turned thoughtful. "Yes, perhaps so. Here is what you can do." He pulled out his datapad and began to type. "Give this datacard to Adrenas. The night before the final test, he will put poison in Yuthura's bath. It will make her an easy target when the time comes. Rather generous of me, don't you think?" A malicious smile lit up his face as he finished typing and removed the datacard to hand to her. "Now go. You have impressed me, but if you hope to make it to the Tomb of Naga Sadow, you still have much to do."

As Andra walked away, she turned the datacard over and over in her hand. _Do I hand it over? Show it to Yuthura? _Finally she stowed it in the pocket of her tunic. _Better to wait and see how things look when it's closer to the time. I can always choose what to do with it later, but once I've made that decision, I won't be able to undo it._


	17. Chapter 17

A/N: Bet you weren't expecting another update so soon, were you? My muse was a busy girl over the weekend when I wasn't skating or chained to my thermodynamics homework. The usual thanks to Sia and the usual disclaimer that KotOR is Bioware's (and if you haven't played it yet... what in the name of the Sith are you waiting for?)

* * *

Once she finished eating her lunch, it took Andra a few minutes of asking around to find where Master Yuthura had gone. The Sith Academy's second in command was supervising a sparring match between two of the more advanced students, but when she saw the human woman enter, she motioned her outside, leaving one of the lower-ranked instructors to continue watching the students.

"I trust you have a good reason for this interruption?" she hissed, her voice low enough that Andra had to strain to hear her.

"Yes," the Padawan answered in an equally quiet voice. "I overheard Master Uthar planning something I think you should know about."

"What? What's happened? Our plan is still intact, I hope?"

"He plans to have whoever makes it to the final test fight you instead of one of the other students," Andra whispered, leaning in closer to make absolutely sure no eavesdroppers could hear her words.

"Aah… how very clever of him." Her head-tails twitched anxiously. "Obviously he has learned of our plan, but how? Unless you said something…" She glared at the human, her amber eyes narrowed to just the barest slits.

"No, of course not."

The Sith's expression remained skeptical. "Perhaps one of the other students overheard our planning and reported it to him, but I find that unlikely. You are attempting to play both sides of the fence against the middle, I think. And I respect that, but you are playing a dangerous game. If you think Master Uthar will truly be so grateful to you for double-crossing me, think again. I am offering you the chance to start off your Sith career as right hand to the headmaster of the Academy. Uthar would never give you that, and he will quickly realize what you have to gain by betraying him. Do you think he would believe anybody could pass that up? No, your only chance is with me." She paused to think for a moment. "You are fortunate that in the end, it works out better that it is only the three of us in the tomb. Here is what I want you to do. Meet me in your room in half an hour. I will give you a device to that will weaken Master Uthar as well as a copy of my passcard, which will gain you access to his quarters. Plant the device under his bed, and make sure no one sees you. Then he will be too weak to stand against us on the day of your final test." She pressed the point of one of her claws against Andra's throat just hard enough to draw blood. "Don't even think of failing me this time. You're too far in to back out now."

Yuthura strode back into the room, leaving Andra staring after her, slack-jawed. _And once again, I get absurdly lucky… though I'm sure Bastila would tell me there is no such thing as luck, only the Force. Either way, this is probably the best chance we'll ever get to find the proof Carth needs for his son._

Andra searched with her Jedi senses until she felt his presence inside the academy, moving toward their room alongside another presence she recognized as Mission. By the time she reached the room, they were already inside.

"Good, you made it. Everything went alright, then?"

Mission laughed. "Those Sith are dumber than a box of rocks! Sneaking past them was almost a little bit too easy. Carth says you need my help getting past a computer's security system?"

The Padawan nodded. "Specifically, we need to access the private records of the academy's headmaster, Master Uthar. His second-in-command, Yuthura, is supposed to be meeting me in about half an hour to give me a keycard to get into his quarters."

"Really? How'd you manage to talk her into that? Heck, I wish I could get people to just hand over the keys to their rooms."

Carth looked up from where he was cleaning his blaster, a smile on his face. "So your plan worked, then? Good; I hope we find what we need in those files."

Yuthura was as good as her word, and an hour later the two humans were watching over Mission's shoulders as she hacked away at the encryption on Uthar's private terminal. After several minutes, the screen of the terminal remained stubbornly stuck on the password request screen.

"Huh, seems like not all the Sith are as stupid as those guards I snuck past," Mission muttered, as much to herself as to her audience. "The protection here is actually pretty good."

"Can you get past it?" Anxiety showed in every muscle on Carth's face as well as the white-knuckled grip he maintained on the back of Mission's chair.

"Of course. But it's going to be a few more minutes."

Andra let her eyes fall shut as she reached out to the Force. "I'll keep an eye out in case Master Uthar or someone comes back early."

It was another quarter of an hour before the security finally yielded to Mission's determined assault. Dimly through her Jedi trance, Andra could hear Carth's tenor voice, alternating occasionally with the Twi'lek's youthful soprano as they studied the data. Then she felt a double-wave of shock from her companions a few moments before the pilot called, "Andi, come take a look at this!"

The Padawan opened her eyes and leaned forward to get a better look at the terminal screen. It was currently displaying Dustil's file. Most of the data was fairly routine: name, date of birth, species, planet of origin, date of enrollment—a little more than a year ago, she noted—and an impressive list of test scores. But appended to the file were personal comments from Master Uthar and other teachers. The one Carth had brought up was dated about four months after Dustil's enrollment.

_The boy shows great promise. He learns quickly, and his anger has given him great strength in the dark side, but he is being held back by his attachment to the girl Selene, who does not show nearly as much aptitude. She cannot be allowed to hinder his progress; I am writing orders to have her disposed of at the earliest opportunity. Assigning her to the team excavating the tomb of Tulak Hord may be a good cover story. It should be simple enough to make her death appear accidental and tell the boy she was lost exploring the valley… he will forget her soon enough. He has too much potential for us to lose him now._

Mission's lekku had gone absolutely still. "Wow. I mean, I knew the Sith were evil and all but sometimes the reality of it just kind of slaps you in the face. Like when they destroyed Taris…"

Carth gave her shoulder a comforting squeeze. "I know. The Sith destroyed my homeworld too." He closed out of the note and pulled up the girl, Selene's, file long enough to confirm that the orders had been carried out, then switched back to Dustil's file. "Mission, can you copy those two files onto a datacard? Dustil needs to see this."

She nodded and fished a card out of her pocket. "Sure."

Once they had the files, Andra quickly planted the device Yuthura had given her under the bed and did a quick check that everything was the way they had found it when they entered before leading the way from the headmaster's quarters with Carth and Mission close behind, the Twi'lek cloaked with her stealth field generator to avoid notice. Students were still moving about the halls of the academy, but with Andra's Jedi skills, the trio managed to avoid being spotted until they were nearly back to their own room.

Once inside, Mission de-cloaked with a sigh of relief. "I hate trying to sneak around in tight spaces like these hallways. I think I'll just stay here, if that's okay with you, until later when it'll be easier for me to get back to the ship."

Carth nodded. "That's probably a good idea. It would be bad for all of us if someone noticed you." He patted the pocket of his vest to double-check that the datacard was still in there, then took a step toward the door. "I don't know if Dustil's in his room right now, but I want to go check."

Andra made as if to follow him, then hesitated. "Do you want me to come? Or would you rather do this alone?"

"No, I'd like you to be there. It was your plan that got us this information, after all."

The teenage Sith answered their knock after only a few seconds. His eyebrows raised when he saw who his visitors were, and he motioned them inside with an impatient wave of his hand. "Back already?" he said once the doors had closed behind them. "So tell me, father, where's this proof you promised?"

Carth removed the datacard from his vest and held it out to his son. "I have some files here I want you to take a look at. You knew someone named Selene?"

"Yes," confirmed Dustil with a nod. "She's the one who convinced me to join the Sith. We came here together. Why?"

"Just take a look at the datacard."

"Alright, fine." He picked up a datapad off his desk and did as he was told. Andra could see him pale when he reached the part that talked about Selene. "What… where did you come up with this? How did you even know—"

"Because I didn't make this up," the father answered. "It comes from Master Uthar's own personal files."

"Yes… it's his. But he told me… he told me she was eaten by a Terentatek while on a mission. This says that they—"

"Murdered her because she was hindering your progress," the elder Onasi finished, his voice as cold and hard as Andra had ever heard it when speaking of Saul Karath. "And then lied to you about it. There's your evil. Or can you live with that?"

"No…" Dustil retreated numbly toward his bed, his gaze fixed on empty space. "No, I can't. I had no idea. They… they lied to me!" His jaw clenched as shock gave way to fury.

Carth's face broke into a warm smile. "Well, there's the son I remember. Now will you leave here?"

"I…" The boy's eyes darted around the room as if searching for some sort of escape but finding none. "Yes, but not yet," he decided finally. "I have other friends here. I have to try to warn them. And maybe I can, you know, find some information from the inside to help you with whatever you have to do."

The soldier sighed ruefully. "I don't suppose there's any way I could talk you out of that, is there? You're not going to do anything halfway." His lips curved upward in a half-smile. "Sounds familiar."

Dustil smiled almost that same half-smile. "I guess it does."

"I'm proud of you, son," said Carth with an affectionate pat on the back for the teenager. "You aren't hanging on to a lie after you've seen it for what it is. Not everyone could do that."

The younger Onasi's cheeks colored slightly. "Thanks, Dad. I think I'll go back to Telos when this is over. You can find me there. I'm still not sure about… us… but I'll listen. Maybe we can get back to where we should have been."

"I'd like that," Carth agreed, his voice quiet with sudden emotion.

"So I guess this is goodbye for now, father." For once the word lacked the accusatory note it had held before.

"I guess it is. Good luck, Dustil. And if you meant what you said before about finding information from the inside… be very careful how you ask, but anything you can learn about the Tomb of Naga Sadow would be helpful."

"I'll see what I can do. I'll come find you if I learn anything. Goodbye, father." He walked out the door, leaving Carth staring after him.

"Goodbye, son. Take care."

Once again, the Jedi and the soldier found themselves returning to their room from Dustil's, but this time the silence was not the eye of the storm but rather the silence of a storm that had finally passed.

"So do you think you'll see him again?" Andra asked after they were safely back in the privacy their room.

Carth lowered himself wearily onto the edge of the bed. "I think so, yes. If Dustil's anything like he used to be, there's nothing he hates more than being tricked. There's no way he'll let the Sith do that to him again. As for whether or not he'll be my son again… I don't know. I hope we can work things out. He seems to have let go of some of that anger, which is a good sign. I guess I'll just have to wait and see." He reached out to give her hand a little squeeze. "Thanks again, by the way, for everything you did… for Dustil and for me."

She returned the squeeze with a smile. "You deserved to have something go right for once. Or as right as it could given the circumstances." A glance at her wrist chrono revealed that it was still only mid-afternoon. "I think I'm going to go spar with Juhani for a while. You're welcome to come watch if you'd like."

"Thanks, but I'll stay here. I could use a little time to think."

"Hey, I want to see you fight with a lightsaber," Mission pouted from where she had been sitting in silence on the cot.

Andra's brow furrowed in confusion. "You've seen that before, haven't you?" She frowned, trying to think of the times since she had become a Jedi when the teenage Twi'lek had accompanied them on a mission. "That's right, I guess there hasn't been much fighting lately when you've been there. I'd be happy to have you watch if you're really curious, but don't forget you're not supposed to be here."

"Don't worry; nobody's gonna see me. After, I can sneak out back to the _Ebon Hawk_. Do you think it'll take you much longer to find the star map?"

"We know where it is; that's not the problem. The problem is getting inside. Only the headmaster of the Academy knows the key, so unless we can find out what it is, getting in is supposed to be impossible. The only time they actually let a student in is for the final test before becoming a full Sith, and who knows how long that will take?" She shook her head. "But impressing them with my skill with a lightsaber is a step in that direction. Come on, let's go find Juhani."

When Andra returned to her room later that evening after sparring and ensuring Mission made it safely back to their ship, she found Carth sitting on her bed with his knees drawn up slightly, his arms folded across his chest. He was staring at his datapad with enough of a soft focus to his eyes that she knew he wasn't reading its contents, whatever they might be. So lost in thought was he that he didn't even look up when she entered, nor did he seem to notice as she drew closer to the bed. The sleeveless vest he wore gave her an excellent view of his shoulders and forearms and the contours of his muscles beneath his fair skin. The impulse to just stand there and appreciate the view warred with the impulse to reach over and smooth back the pesky bangs that were once again threatening to fall across his eyes, but neither impulse won in the end.

"Coruscant to Carth," she called, keeping her voice quiet so as not to startle him. "What's wrong?"

He jumped slightly, then relaxed when he saw who his visitor was. "Oh, hi, Andi. I didn't see you there. It's… uh… nothing, really. I'm fine."

"That line might have worked on one of the others, but I know you better than that. You're only this quiet when something's bothering you. So talk to me… what's wrong?"

"Alright," he sighed. "I was just thinking about the past. Wondering whether, if I had the chance to go back and do it right, I would change anything, or if I would just make the same mistakes again."

She hesitated at the edge of the bed. _Would it help if I went and sat next to him? Or would that just add another layer of guilt to what he's already feeling? _But the pensive expression on his face tugged at her heart and so she climbed up and slid next to him, wrapping an arm around his waist. Through the relatively light material of her pants, she could feel the warmth of his thigh against hers, and only the discipline of her months of training as a soldier and a Jedi kept her focused on the conversation against the growing desire to take hold of him and do some things they would definitely regret the next morning. He wavered for a moment but did not pull away. "Mistakes?" she asked.

He nodded. "Dustil and Morgana were everything to me, but a career in the Fleet can be tough on family life. Ana and I had been married for about five years already when I decided to enlist. She was hardly thrilled, especially with Dustil still so young, but she understood how important it was to me, so she agreed. And during peacetime, we managed to make things work. Then the Mandalorian Wars started. Leaves were often cut short, or cancelled altogether, by some event or other, and deployments got longer. In the three years the war lasted, I had maybe three months to spend with her, and that took its toll on our relationship, and my relationship with my son. By the time the fighting was done, she told me she'd had enough, and so we agreed I would stay on one more year to help the Republic rebuild, then I would retire." His gaze dropped again to the datapad. "Three weeks before I was due to leave, Revan and Malak came back at the head of their invasion fleet."

Andra's gaze followed his, and she saw the glowing letters of the text message the screen was currently displaying.

_ Ana,_

_ I don't know how else to tell you how sorry I am that this has happened. You know I want nothing more than to be home with you and Dustil, but things are happening right now that are outside any of our control. The situation is desperate; Dodanna and Saul both agree that if it weren't for the talents of a young Jedi named Bastila, the Republic might have already fallen, and even with her, we likely won't last more than another couple years at most unless something happens to dramatically tip the balance in this war. The Fleet needs every soldier it can get, and experienced ones most of all. I just can't leave now. Once the Sith are defeated, I'll be home with you, I promise, but if the Sith win, there won't even be a home for us to be together in. I have to do everything I can to keep that from happening._

_ I love you. Never doubt that, ever. It's your future and our son's—our future as a family—that I'm out here fighting for._

_ Carth_

She blinked. "Oh."

"Yeah. 'Oh'." He closed his eyes ruefully, settling back against the wall. "I broke the promise I made to her: I signed back on. Right or wrong, I don't think I'll ever forgive myself for that. Because of the situation, I couldn't even tell her in person; I had to do it by holocom. And she hated it. That was the angriest I'd ever seen her in all our years together. I tried to apologize, tried to explain, but, like I told you before, she was stubborn. She never let me forget what I'd done."

Her gaze dropped again to the message on the datapad, this time noting the time stamp: 11 March, Republic Year 21,095. _Oh! _"Then this was…"

He nodded. "She never read it. We'd been talking the day before and once again, she brought up the subject of my reenlistment. So I got up early that morning to write her before my shift started. That's why I was awake to see the attack." He stared down at his hands, deep in thought, and Andra hugged him tighter in comfort, leaning her head on his shoulder. "You know," he reflected, "of all the things that hurt when I remember that day, the worst, besides knowing that I could have stopped it, is knowing that she died angry with me. That even a year later, she still hadn't forgiven me for not leaving like I promised I would." He hesitated suddenly. "Is this… is this too awkward? Maybe I shouldn't be talking to you about this."

"No, it's fine," she reassured him, laying a hand on top of his.

"Still, you must think I'm incredibly stupid to still be obsessing like this after so much time has passed."

She shook her head. "Not at all, but I doubt Morgana would want you to do this to yourself. You have to let go of your guilt or sooner or later it will tear you apart."

"You're right," he admitted, slumping slightly against her side. "You're right, but I can't help it. The only thing that's kept me going since she died has been the need to make sure Saul pays for what he did. It's better to think about that than… anything else." A blush colored his cheeks, and Andra grinned mischievously. _Anything else… like the fact that he's snuggled up next to me and there's this convenient bed we're sitting on? _Already the warmth of his hand under hers and the feeling of the firm muscles of his back through the material of his vest were making an excellent attempt to distract her from the conversation, but his next words killed any quip she might have tossed at him. "If I can do that, then maybe I can let her go. Let it all go."

"And what about after?" she asked, her fingers tracing idle patterns along the back of his hand.

"Hmm?"

She tilted her head to look up at him. "I didn't think it was that confusing a question. What happens once you finally have your revenge?

"I don't know," he answered after a moment's pause. "I've never thought about that. Never really had a reason to. I suppose I always assumed I would be dead once Saul was."

"Why? What risks do you plan on taking?"

"Understand," said Carth, holding up a hand to caution her, "that whenever I envisioned taking on Saul in the past, it was always as the captain of my own ship, or alone. In those cases, I would risk everything. But I'm not in the same situation now. I wouldn't risk hurting you… or the others," he added hastily, blushing again.

Her expression remained unconvinced. "Wouldn't you?"

"You don't really think I'd throw away everything we're doing here, do you?" he snapped, his eyes narrowing in anger.

"I don't know," she replied with a shrug of her shoulders. "Is there anything you wouldn't stop at to get to Saul?"

He reached over to cover her hand with his other hand. "I'd like to think I wouldn't put you in danger. That I wouldn't forget there's more than Saul to fight. If I actually saw him, though… if I actually had the chance…" He shook his head. "I don't know what I'd do. I really don't. I mean, his death has been my entire focus for so long…"

"We need you, Carth. I need you. I can't do this alone."

"I know. And I promise I'll see this through, no matter what happens. But… can you promise me something in return?"

She arched an eyebrow. "What?"

"If we should cross paths with Saul in the course of our mission, promise me I'll be the one to kill him. I have to settle this. I need to."

"As long as it doesn't put the mission or anyone's life in danger, then I promise." She grinned. "And you're included in that 'anyone', you stubborn, stubborn man. No friend of mine is going to die if I have anything to say about it."

"I'm stubborn? Look who's talking, miss 'I consider this extremely important!'" he teased, letting out a good-natured chuckle. "But thank you. As for what comes afterward… well, let's wait until we know that I'm around to see it."

"Just so you know, I'm holding you to that, Carth Onasi. Because you will be."


	18. Chapter 18

A/N: Liberty with the in-game plot? Me? Neeeeeever! The usual thanks to Sia, and I must also thank Jade for lending some of her real-world medical knowledge to this chapter.

* * *

The first thing Carth Onasi was aware of when he woke the next morning was a slender female arm wrapped around his waist. At first his sleep-fogged brain struggled to make sense of how this had happened, then he opened his eyes and saw that the arm belonged to Andra. She was leaned against his side, head resting on his shoulder and her mouth open slightly as she slept. _That's right; she was so tired from her training that she fell asleep not long after our talk. I didn't want to disturb her… must have fallen asleep myself in the meantime._ It surprised him how comfortable a feeling it was to have her slender frame molded against him, the warmth of her body dispelling some of the chill of the morning air. A few strands of her black hair had worked their way free of her bun during the night, and he reached over to smooth them back. _There's no hurry to go anywhere right now. Maybe I'll just stay here, let her sleep a little longer. _For long minutes he sat there, content to simply watch her sleep and marvel at this woman who had burst into his life so unexpectedly two months ago and worked her way deeper into his heart with each passing week. _The funny thing is I don't even mind like I thought I would. Last night was the best I've slept in years… I could get used to this._

Just then, she stirred, sleepily at first, then jerking upright when she felt her arm still around him. "Oh! Uh…" She took in their situation, her cheeks reddening, and quickly withdrew her arm. "Good morning."

"Relax," he laughed. "I'm not going to bite."

She lowered her eyes, abashed, and slid off the bed at a more normal pace. "Oh. I thought… well, I thought you might not have wanted me there," she finished in a lower voice. "Rather silly of me in hindsight, I suppose; if you hadn't, you had plenty of opportunity to move, or to move me. Now, if you don't mind, I think I'd better change. Wouldn't do to show up to lessons wearing my same clothes from yesterday and give everyone the wrong impression, now, would it? So if you'll excuse me…" she flashed him a seductive grin. "Unless, of course, you'd like to stay and watch?" He retreated hastily from the room, her laughter following him through the door.

Carth decided to accompany Andra and Juhani to their lessons that day. _Only because it's what a good bodyguard would do _he mentally excused himself. _Not at all because it's an opportunity to watch her uninterrupted. _The focus that day was more on the mental aspects of controlling the Force. Yuthura spent most of the morning teaching the two women how to block out the sense of others' thoughts and feelings through the Force, then progressed to defending oneself from unwanted attempts at mind-probing by other Force users. The strange thing to Carth was that from the perspective of a non-Force-user, it seemed like nothing at all was happening. Yuthura would pause occasionally to describe the theory of the exercise, but then the three women would simply sit there with their eyes half-closed for minutes on end. The only outward sign that anything was happening was the occasional muttered curse from one of the Padawans when they made a mistake or a murmured compliment from Yuthura after a particularly good effort. The whole process left little for the pilot to do except watch, and inevitably his eyes were drawn to Andra. Deep in meditation, with her delicate eyelashes forming a dark fringe against her olive skin, she looked almost as peaceful as she had sleeping that morning, and yet there was an aura of intense concentration about her. He wasn't sure exactly how long it had been when he felt rather than heard someone call for him and turned around to see Dustil just outside the doorway. The teenager nodded in the direction of one of the unoccupied training rooms and Carth rose as quietly as he could to follow him inside.

"Good to see you again, Dustil. How did the talking to your friends go?"

"Pretty well. A few of us are planning to book passage on a freighter that's leaving here the day after tomorrow. But that's not what I'm here about. You said you were interested in the Tomb of Naga Sadow?"

Carth nodded. "Did you find out something?"

"Yes," the teenager answered. "I talked to one of my friends, Kel, who was chosen to go there last year. He says Master Uthar has a special key that opens the door. If you could find where he keeps the key, you might be able to sneak inside."

"Thank you, son. I mean it… you probably just saved us a lot of time. I hope you don't get in trouble for this."

"Don't worry, Kel is the only one who knows and he's one of the ones leaving with me. And even if the Sith did find out somehow, in just a couple more days I'll be gone. Good luck, Dad!"

When Carth relayed the information to Andra, her enthusiasm for the new plan was instantaneous, and before he could stop her, she was racing off to Master Uthar's quarters to look. After a few minutes they discovered it amid a pile of datacards, and as silently as they had come, they returned to their room. That night, it was a very anxious soldier who watched his Jedi companion prepare to head out into the Valley of the Dark Lords.

"Are you sure about this?" he asked, laying a hand on her arm. "I don't like the thought of you going out there alone."

"Yes. The only way this will work is if the Sith never find out what we're up to. Every additional person is just another chance for us to be noticed."

"Carth speaks the truth," Juhani agreed. In her Cathar accent, the words became almost a purr. "You should allow me to come with you. I am, perhaps, not as skilled as Mission in avoiding notice, but the Sith would not see me.

"No, Juhani. If things go badly, one more person won't make much difference, but if somebody does see me, I'll have an easier time talking my way out of trouble if I'm alone. I'll be fine."

Carth hugged her fiercely. "You'd better be."

Later aboard the _Ebon Hawk_:

Despite the fact that it was nearly an hour past midnight local time, Carth's nerves were wound far too tightly for him to sleep. He sat in the pilot's chair, eyes glued to the sensor readouts he had focused on the Valley of the Dark Lords as he kept the engines primed for a quick escape should that become necessary. _She went into the tomb nearly an hour ago. Where is she and what's taking her so long? _The rest of the ship was already asleep, and in the silence, every creak of metal, every rustling that echoed through the empty halls, seemed to either herald disaster or announce her return. _But if she were coming back, the sensors would have picked her up leaving the tomb, wouldn't they? _Finally the sensors registered a life-form matching human parameters leaving the tomb and Carth thought he might cry in relief… except that there was now another life-form moving to intercept her, and a wave of fear so intense as to nearly induce nausea washed over him. Seconds later, he heard the loud thumps of bare feet running along the deck of the ship and Bastila burst into the cockpit.

"Get us airborne, now! Don't bother waiting for clearance from traffic control; Andra's in trouble!"

Before she had even finished speaking, he had the repulsorlifts going and the _Ebon Hawk_ rose from its berth to streak through Korriban's night sky like a comet. As they crossed over the academy into the valley, he brought the ship lower, zeroing in on the spot where the ship's sensors indicated Andra and the other person were. Even from this distance, Carth could clearly see the light of sabers clashing against the absolute darkness. One was a dark blue he recognized as Andra's, the other a vivid scarlet. _Sithspawn! _He pushed the speed of the _Ebon Hawk _even higher, ignoring the angry demands from the comm that he turn around at once. Still, while the ship was still several hundred meters away he saw both lights flicker out. With the precision born of years of experience landing clumsy cargo ships in the tight confines of military encampments, he brought the freighter in to land a mere handful of meters away from the scene of the battle, and the instant they were on the ground, he slapped the control to lower the boarding ramp and sprinted toward it, hopping lightly to the ground before it was even fully extended with Bastila right on his heels. In the glow of the ship's running lights, he could dimly make out a pair of bodies on the ground. The first looked to be a human male, clad in some sort of dark armor, while the second was unmistakably Andra, the light grey jumpsuit/tunic she had been wearing earlier marred by a growing dark stain in the vicinity of her abdomen.

"No!" In three powerful strides Carth closed the remaining distance separating him from the Padawan and knelt by her side. The dark stain on the front of her tunic was clearly blood, and more was flowing from the wound in her stomach with every second. The sick feeling returned. _It's just like before_. Unbidden, the memories came.

_Though the Sith had already left by the time Carth Onasi arrived on Telos, he didn't need to hear the terrified accounts of the survivors to know who was responsible for the attack. He had known the moment he saw the Sith bombers flying past his window that morning while the rest of the garrison still slept, the alarms that should have warned them ominously silent. _You'll pay for this, Saul _he vowed as he strapped himself into the landspeeder he had commandeered from one of his friends in the Telos Security Force. With reckless speed, he zoomed around or above the collapsed buildings and rubble-strewn streets on the way to his home. When he arrived, the place was barely recognizable. Only the slightly scorched remains of the little sign hanging in front displaying their house number gave any indication that it had ever been a house at all, and he suppressed a sudden wave of nausea. "Ana," he screamed at the top of his lungs. In response, he heard a faint moan coming from the remains of what had once been their kitchen. He dug frantically through the rubble until he uncovered a matted, blood-stained mass of blonde hair. The moans were clearly audible now, coming from just underneath the surface of the debris, and he redoubled his efforts until he was able to lift his wife's broken body clear of the wreckage. She was in bad shape, bleeding from multiple wounds of varying severity all over her front and probably internally as well._

"_Commander Onasi to Control," he called into his comlink over his task force's emergency frequency. "I need a medic to 4815 Chancellor's Circle immediately."_

"_All our medical staff are currently tied up helping the wounded elsewhere, Commander," the voice on the other end answered._

"_Damn it, Kyron!" Carth swore. Morgana's breaths were starting to come faster, and though he was no medic, he had served long enough to know that was never a good sign. "Ana's dying here!"_

"_So are a lot of other people. I'm sorry, Carth… I'll try to pull someone away to help you as soon as I can."_

With a tremendous effort, he returned his focus to the present."Bastila, get a medpack!" he shouted. _Okay, first things first, got to stop that bleeding._ Pulling a vibroblade from his pocket, he carefully sliced off a strip of fabric and pressed it against her stomach with one hand, shaking her gently with the other. "Can you hear me, Andi?"

Her eyelids fluttered open, but her eyes did not focus on his face. "So… cold…" she mumbled around short, shallow pants of breath. Indeed, her skin felt cold and clammy to the touch, and when he put a finger to her wrist to feel her pulse, it was rapid and weak. _Dangerously weak. Shavit, not again! _For he knew all too well where this road led; the medics had tried to explain it to him two years before when they arrived to find him cradling his wife's lifeless body. Within minutes, if not sooner, the mechanisms Andra's body was using to compensate for the drastic loss of blood would begin to fail. Blood would pool in the capillaries, causing fluid to leak from them, and with the loss of fluid, the blood would thicken, slowing her circulation until finally—

"Here's a medpac," Bastila announced from beside him, and numbly, mechanically, he reached out to take it and began rummaging through its contents. Sterile gauze to cover his makeshift bandage, which was already soaked through with blood. An injection of kolto to begin the healing process and combat any further damage until they could get her proper medical care. He administered this last feeling as if it was another person's hands he was watching while Bastila took over applying pressure to the gauze. By now, the other members of the crew had made their sleepy way to where Carth and Bastila knelt.

"Juhani, Canderous, help me move her, please. I need to keep pressure on the wound. Gently, now," she cautioned as the Cathar and the Mandalorian slid their arms under Andra's body and began to lift. Mission and Carth preceded the others back into the ship, the Twi'lek in order to get some blankets for the medical bay and the pilot to prepare to take off for space the instant everybody was secured. The time they had spent on the ground tending to Andra had given the Sith forces time to scramble fighters to intercept them, and several minutes of tense piloting followed as Carth struggled to evade their blasts. Fear threatened to choke him, but he forced himself not to think about the woman lying critically injured in the medbay a few meters behind him. His world narrowed until it consisted only of himself, his ship, and the interceptors chasing him. They had the benefit of maneuverability, but experience was on his side and he milked that advantage for all it was worth. Under his control, the _Ebon Hawk_ twisted and spun, dove and climbed with the agility of a much smaller craft until finally their zig-zagging flight carried them far enough away from the planet's gravity well to make the jump to hyperspace.

A few lightyears away from Korriban, Carth dropped the ship back into realspace and brought it to a stop before hurrying back to the medical bay. The crew, including the droids, crowded into the corridor outside. Carth shouldered his way through until he saw Bastila kneeling by her fellow Padawan's bed, deep in a Jedi trance but still with her hands pressed against the wound. On the wall, monitor readouts displayed Andra's blood pressure, heart rate, and blood oxygen levels. Though the numbers had stabilized for the moment, they were still much lower—or in the case of the heart rate, higher—than Carth would have liked, and her skin, where it was not covered by her tunic, was not its normal smooth, olive tone but mottled and pale.

"How is she?"

Bastila's grey eyes opened. "As best I can tell, there has been no change, for better or for worse. I have put her in a Jedi healing trance, which should help, but such skills have never been my area of expertise. I am not certain it will be enough even to keep her alive until we can reach help. Would that we were closer to Dantooine…"

"I wish we were closer to Republic space, period," Carth muttered, hunting through the cupboards and drawers of the medical bay. "The Sith control this entire sector and Korriban is sure to send word out about us; trying to land on any planet around here would be suicide." He spotted a case full of kolto injections and removed a double-handful of the syringes. "But you're right: we have to do something, and now, or we risk brain damage… or even worse. There it is!" he exclaimed in relief when he located the drawer of gauze. "You'd think Davik would have bothered to label his medical supplies." Opening the syringes, he quickly soaked the gauze in the kolto. "Alright, move your hand."

"What are you doing?"

He reached over and pulled the offending appendage roughly away from Andra's stomach before removing the wad of blood-soaked gauze and replacing it with the new gauze, packing it as deeply into the wound as he could manage. "Lightsabers cauterize. So why is she bleeding?"

"I… had not thought about that," Bastila answered, the effort she was making to control her temper showing in her strained tone of voice.

"It was a rhetorical question. For her to be bleeding, and this much, he must have hit a major blood vessel. This won't fix the problem, but it _may _keep her alive long enough for us to find help." He glanced up at the monitor. "I still don't like her blood pressure, though. Blast it, I wish this medical bay had the equipment and supplies for blood transfusions." _I'm not losing her! I'm not!_

A rapid-fire series of electronic tones sounded from the hallway, followed by the mechanical voice of HK-47. "Translation: the astromech says that according to his files on human emergency medicine, intravenous administration of .91% saline solution should alleviate the most severe symptoms."

Carth went immediately to one of the cupboards he had been rummaging around in earlier and pulled out a bag of hypodermic needles. "Alright, now, normal saline… normal saline… damn it, what kind of medical bay doesn't have normal saline?" he burst out when a thorough search of the room failed to turn up the necessary item.

"I think Davik was more concerned with illegal drugs than legal ones," Canderous remarked.

"Well, don't just stand there; go get some salt from the food dispenser area! We're running out of time!" The Republic soldier pulled out his datapad and began typing away frantically. "Never thought I'd be so glad I paid attention in chemistry class when I was in school."

"Where did you acquire all this medical knowledge, Carth?" inquired Bastila. "I didn't think it was a specialty of yours."

"I learned a thing or two after the attack on Telos, especially about shock," the soldier answered shortly. A minute later, the Mandalorian returned with a shaker of salt and Carth quickly measured out the appropriate quantity and dumped it into a beaker of sterile water, stirring until it was fully dissolved. "Now tell me at the very least he's got syringes around here somewhere." He located a case of them in the same cupboard he had found the needles. "Good, at least Davik had some sense when he was stocking this place. Sithspit, finding a vein is going to be tricky with her blood vessels narrowed like this…" As he began to feel her forearm, he could hear the low hum of conversation behind him.

"Andra needs better medical facilities than we have here on the _Ebon Hawk, _Bastila. But where can we land that is not occupied by the Sith?"

"What about here?" a youthful soprano suggested. "Yavin. It's not far at all, and Davik's file says it's abandoned except for a small space station."

"Yavin was Exar Kun's stronghold during the Great Sith War, but as far as I know, the Sith have not returned there since, which would agree with Davik's records," Bastila observed. "We may not find what we need there, but it is by far our closest option, unless we go to Toprawa."

"I visited the station when I was working as an enforcer for Davik. It's an abandoned Republic supply depot from the Sith War taken over by an old Sullustan, name of Suvam Tam." That was Canderous's baritone rumble. "Like most hermits, he's a bit unstable, but he's a brilliant inventor. As I recall, the old Republic medical facilities there were still operational, and he had patched up a 2-1B droid he found down on the planet."

But all this conversation was so much noise in Carth's ears as he was still attempting on his third stick to successfully insert the needle.

"Come up just a little," a female voice instructed suddenly in a Coruscant accent. He did as Bastila ordered.

"Okay, what now?"

"Try again, but at a slightly shallower angle. Yes, that's good. A little further… a little further… there!" A deep red trickled into the clear plastic tube connecting the needle to the syringe access; Bastila opened her eyes and the commander let out a breath he hadn't realized he was holding. Again and again through the long night, he filled the syringe with fluid, injecting it with agonizing care into the IV line. Exhaustion threatened to overwhelm him, but sheer strength of determination kept his eyes open and his hands steady. _I will not lose another woman I love. _In his near-delirium, the numbers on the monitor seemed to take on a life of their own. 70/40… 80/45… 90/55…

"Stay with me, Andra," he pleaded, though he knew the woman spread out on the table before him could not hear. _Stay with me, Ana._


	19. Chapter 19

A/N: Thank you to Sia for helping me break out of my ex-Catholic schoolgirl shell with one of the later scenes in this chapter. And Bioware is god!

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"Sir, step away from the patient." The voice was mechanical, but not one that belonged to either of the two droids on the _Ebon Hawk's _crew. _Huh, did we land already? I don't remember feeling us land._ "Sir," the voice repeated, more insistently, "I cannot treat this woman unless you allow me access to bring her to our medical facilities."

"It's alright, Carth," Mission assured him. "We're at Yavin now. Andra's going to be fine; the 1B droid is here to help her but you need to give him room." The commander felt her hand tugging at his, but he refused to budge. _I have to stay here; if I leave, she'll die. I have to save her. _"Zaalbar, could you give me a hand over here? I can't get him to move." A moment later, a pair of furry hands grabbed hold of the pilot and firmly carried him away from the medical bay despite his incoherent protests.

"Here, Carth." The Coruscanti accent could only belong to Bastila. "I don't think you've had a thing to drink all night; you must be parched." Dimly, his eyes registered a glass of water being held out to him, and although he had not noticed it before in his state of single-minded concentration, all of a sudden he felt like he could have guzzled an entire canteen at once. He took the water and downed it in a single gulp. A few seconds later, a wave of exhaustion overcame him and he swayed dangerously on his feet. Bastila caught him and lowered him gently to the ground.

"You drugged me," he accused her feebly.

"You need to rest. The med droid can take care of Andra now. You can see her when you wake up."

He wasn't sure how much later it was when he came to, groggy and with his mind feeling like it was enveloped by a thick fog. _Bastila drugged me! _The thought pierced through his mental haze, bringing him closer to full alertness. _She drugged me, and I wouldn't put it past her to have planted that overwhelming thirst in my brain either, the little witch. Well, she did say I could see Andi when I woke up. _His stomach had other ideas, however, as it reminded him with a rather pointed rumble that he hadn't had anything to eat in well over twelve hours, so he paused to wolf down a ration bar from their emergency supplies before descending into the station to seek out the medical wing.

There were no signs directing him where to go, but fortunately the unoccupied portions of the station had been closed off. Still, it seemed that an endless series of doors stood between him and his destination. With every minute his steps came faster until he had reached an all-out run by the time he finally arrived in the med bay. There were perhaps 6 or 8 rooms arranged in a double-line, but only one had the door closed. Carth hit the control to open it and burst in without even bothering to knock; on the other side, Andra bobbed up and down in a kolto tank under the supervision of the 2-1B droid and upon seeing her still alive, the fist of fear that had clenched itself about his heart loosened and he could breathe again."How's she doing?" he asked the 1B droid.

"The injuries Miss Gelan sustained to her inferior vena cava and other abdominal organs have been corrected by surgery, and kolto immersion should speed the recovery process. Barring unforeseen complications, I expect her to make a full recovery within the next 24-48 standard hours."

The soldier heaved a sigh of relief. "That's… good to hear." He approached the kolto tank and laid a hand against its cool transparisteel. Already her color was improving, and the gaping wound in the side of her stomach had been stitched shut. She opened her eyes in response and smiled, reaching out to weakly press a hand against his through the intervening wall of the tank. For long moments he stood there. Just the sight of her smile and her eyes looking directly into his and her hand mirroring his was enough to begin to heal the terror of that endless night. _I was that close to losing her forever… losing another woman I love. _He frowned. _Did I really think that last night? I did, didn't I? _He retreated to one of the room's two chairs and sat down with a sigh, his breathing finally beginning to slow after the exertion of running. _I suppose a part of me knew it all along. The question now is what to do about it? _It was a question he pondered long and hard as he watched her float suspended in the kolto.

Even when she wasn't actually looking at him, Andra could feel Carth's presence there in the room. Others came and went: Bastila, Juhani, Mission, Zaalbar… even Canderous and the droids stopped in once or twice. But her pilot was always there, like an anchor keeping her grounded in reality amid the rather disconcerting feeling of being immersed in the tank. Over the day she spent there, she could feel the pain gradually diminishing. Her strength returned and the skin where she had been stabbed healed together into a line of new, pink flesh. At last the med droid motioned for her to rise to the top of the tank. In two strong kicks, she was there, the 2-1B holding one of her hands as Carth held the other, helping her to climb out into the recycled air of the space station. She toweled off the kolto dripping from her skin, blushing bright scarlet as she realized just how much of it was showing. It was with great relief that she accepted the robe Carth handed her and slipped it around her shoulders, knotting it closed in front. He hugged her tightly, and the warmth of his arms wrapped around her, his body pressed against hers, brought her delightfully back into the world after the disturbing lack of sensation of the kolto tank.

"You don't know how good it feels to have you holding me," she murmured in his ear.

"You don't know how good it feels to be _able _to hold you," he retorted. "You were a real mess when we found you. That's the last time I'm letting you go off on your own like that!"

"I'm sorry… he snuck up on me so suddenly while I was leaving the tomb. How was I supposed to know Darth Malak's own personal apprentice was going to come looking for me? I'll try not to scare you like that again."

Hand in hand, they descended the steps from the platform above the tank to the floor of the room.

"How are you feeling, madam?" the med droid inquired. "Any weakness, dizziness, lightheadedness, or pain?"

"No to all of those. I feel completely back to normal." She gave Carth's hand a squeeze. "I never thanked you for coming back for me, did I? That's two I owe you now."

"Yeah, well, I owe you once or twice myself, so let's just call it even, shall we?"

The 2-1B droid led them toward the patient bed positioned against the wall. "Excellent. Now, if you would please have a seat on the bed, Mistress Gelan, I would like to give you a brief examination before I release you from my care."

Once the med droid was satisfied that she was indeed fully healed, Andra began to slide off the bed, but Carth laid a hand on her arm to stop her. "Wait. Before we start preparing to get underway again, I need to talk to you. In private, if you don't mind excusing us, 1B."

"Certainly, sir."

Once the metallic clank of the droid's footsteps were no longer audible through the door, silence fell for several seconds as Carth debated the best way to begin. He let out a nervous laugh. _Maybe I should have planned this a little better._

Andra laughed with him. "Whatever you have to say, just say it."

"Alright." He hopped up next to her on the examination bed and took a deep breath to calm his racing heart. "I know we've both been avoiding the subject for a while now, but after what happened, I don't think it can wait any longer. We need to talk—about us, I mean. About what we are to each other."

"I didn't think there was anything to talk about. You still miss your wife; you're not ready for a new relationship. End of story. I understand that, really I do. And I've tried to respect that, as much as I might wish things could be different."

He laid a hand on top of hers where it rested against her knee. "I do miss Ana, and I doubt anything will ever change that. But maybe that doesn't have to be the end of the story. Maybe things can be different… that is, if you still want them to be."

"Are sure about this, Carth?" Joy and anxiety warred for supremacy on her face. "Are you sure you're ready?"

He nodded. "I'm sure. Whether I'm ready or not, it's here. You're here. I got a glimpse yesterday of what my life would be like if you weren't, and I… I didn't like it. I didn't like it all. And the thing is, there's even greater danger ahead. You fought the Dark Lord's apprentice, but Malak himself is still out there. And the danger isn't just physical, either. You have a lot of courage, and the fact that you've remained strong even on Korriban is amazing, but I worry that you might just be setting yourself up for that much harder of a fall. Because there's something the Jedi aren't telling us. Something important."

"I know. I keep meaning to ask Bastila about that but it seems that one thing or another has been keeping me distracted. As for the danger… unfortunately, that's part of being a soldier in a time of war."

He slid an arm around her waist and hugged her close, as if by holding on to her physically he could prevent that other, more permanent separation. "You're right, but if I'm going to live past Saul, I need you to as well. I realize I can't protect you from everything that's going to come, but I can be there to face it with you, and maybe together we can make it through where we wouldn't have been able to alone. You have to at least let me try. Please? I want to do things right this time."

She leaned her head against his shoulder. "Of course, Carth. You know I can't do this without you."

"Thank you. I'll do my best. So I… uh… take it that's a yes to the question of whether you're still interested?"

She twisted and took hold of his face, drawing him in for a kiss. He froze, and his startled exclamation was muffled by her lips against his. Then instinct took over and he began to kiss her back. He wrapped both his arms around her, pulling her tighter as he reveled in the warmth of her skin through the thin silk of her robe. She shifted, draping her legs around his waist at the same time as her lips parted to admit his tongue. His head reeling from the sudden explosion of sensation along every nerve of his body, his lips opened almost of their own volition and his tongue darted forth to run along hers. She returned his exploration enthusiastically, her tongue fencing with his. He could taste the sweet and somewhat spicy hint of kolto on her lips from her recent time in the tank—not an unpleasant taste, he decided. Finally, they broke apart, breathing deeply as they stared into each other's eyes.

"That answer enough for you?" she asked with a smirk. His only response was to pull her in and kiss her again. Her hands slid around his narrow waist and under the material of the lightweight cotton shirt he wore while his fumbled at the tie of the robe he himself had bought for her back on Taris. Suddenly it seemed like even that thin barrier was too much; all he wanted was to feel the smoothness of her skin under his hands. He finally succeeded in getting the tie open and slid his arms around her slender form. He felt her pull at him, tugging him down toward the bed, and he came willingly, trying to be careful of her freshly healed injury as he lowered himself onto her. She tugged his shirt up and over his head, flinging it aside as her strong fingers caressed every inch of his back before moving to the buckle of his belt. His hands, which had been roaming over the skin of her waist, began to slide lower. Just then, he became acutely aware that she was almost fully nude and pressed against him as she was currently trying fervently to bring him to a similar state of undress, and he realized that if they didn't stop this now, they wouldn't stop at all. He really didn't want to stop. At all. But reason won out over sheer physical want and he broke the kiss, gently but firmly removing her hands from his belt.

"We… uh… should really get going."

"And why would we want to do that?" There was a decidedly naughty edge in her grin that set his blood to racing, and it took nearly all of his will power not to give in.

"Because if we don't leave now," he answered, his voice rough with desire, "I don't think either of us is going to be going anywhere anytime soon. And this isn't the right time or place for that." He carefully removed himself from on top of her, pulling his shirt back on and retightening his belt as she likewise refastened her robe.

She paused by the door. "You coming?"

"Uh… in a minute." His gaze dropped rather pointedly to the bulge in his pants and Andra realized that she could use a few minutes herself.

Once they had collected themselves, they went to meet the rest of their crew, their hands intertwined in a comfortable grip. Mission greeted the sight with a broad grin, while Bastila merely raised an eyebrow and just the briefest flicker of a wince passed over Juhani's face. Canderous's face never wavered from its usual stern mask while Zaalbar roared his enthusiasm at seeing her healthy again.

"I'm glad to see you too, Zaalbar," Andra replied with a warm smile. "And thank you all for taking such good care of me."

"Heh, you should thank Carth," Canderous remarked gruffly. "I've never seen a man so hell-bent on saving someone. I hope you at least got the star map for all your trouble."

She nodded. "I have the data stored in my datapad, which should be in the pocket of the tunic I was wearing. That's back on the Ebon Hawk… at least, I hope it is."

At her questioning glance, Carth nodded. "It's on your bed along with everything else you had on you at the time."

"Good. So we have two now, but there's still not enough data to pinpoint more than a general region where the Star Forge might be. We need to go back to Kashyyyk."

After a quick farewell and thanks to Suvam Tam, the crew of the Ebon Hawk was on their way once more. Andra watched from the copilot's seat as the silver metal of the space station disappeared behind the brilliant orange gas giant, and once Carth had the ship traveling safely along its hyperspace route to the Wookiee homeworld, he turned to face her.

"So I think you still owe me an answer about why you're so eager to help people."

She laughed. "You're really not going to let this go, are you?"

"Hey, fair is fair, right? Why should you be the only one who gets to pester people for answers?"

"True." She leaned back in her chair, crossing her arms. "And it's not that I've been trying to avoid the question, but I wasn't speaking to you when you first asked and ever since we patched things up, we've had other things to worry about. Back on Deralia, I had a friend named Rosheen. She got involved with a man when we were about seventeen and after a few months, she found out she was pregnant. Her parents were very traditional; when they found out, they threw her out of the house. Well, she was young and still in school. She was in no position to survive on her own, much less raise a child on her own. And she refused to consider not having the baby."

Carth shook his head. "Can't say I think much of her parents for throwing her out of the house just when she needed their help most. You'd think people would be more tolerant in this day and age. I guess stupidity and ignorance will never go out of style."

"Yeah," Andra agreed. "My parents were pretty mad about that. So we did what we could to help her: gave her a place to stay and some financial support while she got her feet on the ground. The father, of course, was as useless as most teenage fathers are. She had to fight him for every credit of child support he ever gave her and forget about him having any involvement in raising the kid. Luckily her story has a relatively happy ending. She finished school, got herself a decent job, and eventually met a much better man. But it just reminds me, how many people in the galaxy face situations like that every day and don't have someone like my parents to help them? And so I try to help those people whenever I can."

Carth reached over to give her hand a squeeze. "Well, I'm glad things turned out alright for your friend. Did her parents ever reconcile with her?"

"Eventually, but not for years, and things were never really the same between them. Anyway, that's why I do it. I guess I thought that if I was ever in a position like that, I'd want someone to do the same for me."

The landing on Kashyyyk was much quicker this time, as the Czerka customs officials already had their data from their previous visit. As the crew of the Ebon Hawk passed by the spot where Carth had apologized to Andra, she reached out to take his hand, smiling at the memory. He flashed her a grin in return. "Someday when the war is over, I'd love to take you back here. Just the two of us, and no Jordo to interrupt," he whispered.

Zaalbar, meanwhile, was looking around the forest and treetop walkways of his homeworld with a nervous expression. "Can you sense it? The wind, the sound, the smells… this walkway is new, probably built by the Czerka slavers, but I remember the trees. My village is not far from here. I wish I could say they will be happy to see me."

"What do you mean?" questioned Bastila.

"I should have prepared you for coming back here, but I don't know if I've prepared myself. I did not leave Kashyyyk by choice. I was exiled for attacking my brother when I found out he was making deals with the slavers."


	20. Chapter 20

A/N: This time it was Jolee who saved this chapter, which was languishing in a semi-finished state while I was distracted by personal matters until he decided to assume direct control of the end. As a result, some stuff which I had planned to make it into this chapter ended up getting cut to Ch. 21. In the meantime, enjoy, and if you enjoy it, be sure to give due credit to Bioware for making these characters and to my beta, Sia, for helping me flesh out my retelling of their story. If you haven't read her stuff, I highly recommend it... you can find her fics here on this website at /u/2233028/ or Sia Later

* * *

Andra froze mid-step. "What? And you're the one who got in trouble, not your brother?"

"My father did not believe me when I told him what my brother had done," Zaalbar explained in a plaintive moan.

"Why not?" wondered Carth.

"When I attacked my brother, I was so angry that I used my claws. You don't understand how serious that is in Wookiee culture. Our claws are tools to make life among the trees easier for us, not weapons. To use them as such is to become an animal, to lose all honor. It is a madness that forever marks a Wookiee, and nothing he or she says can be trusted. My people were right to cast me out."

Andra sighed and shook her head. "I'm not going to argue that with you right now. We'll try to avoid having to speak to any of your people, but there may not be any choice. We may simply have to deal with this."

"That is what I am afraid of," Zaalbar replied. "My shame was meant to be forgotten on some far away world. I never thought I'd be coming back here. But I have taken up enough of our time already; we have a task to complete." He led the group further along the branching series of walkways. "There is a basket nearby that will take us down to the forest floor, where the star map is."

On the way to the basket, they were stopped by a brindled Wookie standing in the middle of the walkway. He growled threateningly. "You enter the domain of Chuundar, chieftain and leader. He must decide if you are fit to walk this world. You have already soiled it with what you have brought with you."

Zaalbar roared furiously. "This is the home of my people. I have not violated any laws by coming here."

"Shut up! You are nameless with dishonor, mad-claw." The Wookiee motioned emphatically back in the direction they had come. "You all will be taken before Chuundar now, or if necessary we will carry you through the trees like children."

The troop of outsiders followed the two Wookies back to a branch in the network of walkways they had passed by earlier and into the village proper. The houses were very simply built, made of unpainted wroshyr branches and significantly taller than human dwellings to accommodate the greater stature of Wookies. The house to which their guard led them was in the center of the village, the largest of the lot. Inside, a tall Wookiee with grayish-brown fur stood toward the back of the room, with both Wookiee guards and human guards in the uniform of the Czerka Corporation. He motioned them forward.

"You may approach the wise and mighty Chuundar, outsider. I don't often allow visitors of your kind."

"What about these Czerka slavers?" Zaalbar snarled. "Are they not outsiders? Or have you sold all of Kashyyyk to them now?"

"You shouldn't speak in that tone, brother Zaalbar. You've been exiled a long time… things are different now. You are merely a madclaw with no honor; I, on the other hand, am now Chieftain."

So this was the brother who had been selling his own people into slavery. Andra took a deep breath to suppress her sudden flash of fury. Zaalbar, meanwhile, seemed even more than angry.

"Chieftain? And where is our father? What have you done with him? Did you sell him into slavery too?"

"He went as mad as you did when he found out about Czerka. He dared challenge them alone and has not been seen since. Let him go, Zaalbar. I will move our people forward, but there are prices to pay."

"Alright," the Padawan snapped, folding her arms across her chest. "Enough of this. Just tell us what you want. We have a mission to complete; why did you drag us here?"

"I brought Zaalbar here because I hoped he and I might come to an agreement. You are periphera, though there is perhaps something you can do. As I mentioned, our father, Freyyr, went mad as Zaalbar did and has been lurking in the Shadowlands. More importantly, he has been harassing my Czerka allies. You are expendable. You will remove him."

Her eyes narrowed. "And why would I want to do that?"

"You will do it because until you do, I will hold Zaalbar here. The Czerka would never let me hold you, but they don't care what I do with a fellow Wookiee. You could flee the planet if you wish, but I do not think you would leave Zaalbar behind."

Mission's lekku were thrashing in agitation. "You can't do that!" she shrieked. She turned to Andra. "He can't do that, can he? He can't hold Zaalbar prisoner just because he's Chieftain!"

"Unfortunately, Mission, he can. For now, we need to go down into the Shadowlands anyway to find the Star Map. But we'll figure something out. We won't just leave Zaalbar here; don't worry."

The chieftain waved a furry hand dismissively. "No more words, outsider; I have given my orders. If you follow the platforms back the way you came on the way here, you should reach the basket to the forest floor. One of the guards will lower you down."

The trip down to the forest floor took the better part of an hour. During the trip, Andra stood against the railing of the basket, one arm looped comfortably around Carth's waist as his was about hers. Together they watched the leafy green canopy of the trees disappear in the distance to be replaced by the lower treetops until eventually even those disappeared and only the great brown trunks of the trees were visible. If the prospect of heading toward the forest floor where even many of the Wookiees never dared to set foot hadn't had her heart pounding in fear, the scene might have almost been romantic, but the knowledge of the danger they were heading into put a serious damper on the mood. She tightened her grip on Carth, drawing comfort from the warmth of his body and his steady presence. Behind her she could sense an almost automatic twinge of disapproval from Bastila. The light also changed, fading from the dappled white sunlight of the Wookiee village to a dimmer, almost bluish light until finally it vanished altogether and Bastila had to bring out a glow-lantern to light the platform. Though they had traveled only a handful of kilometers, the forest floor felt like an entirely new world. The sights, sounds, even the smells were completely different. Instead of broad, open walkways criss-crossing their way around the trunks of the tallest trees, there were pathways of varying widths, sometimes large enough to allow the whole group to pass easily and sometimes with barely enough room for the men of the party to squeeze their broader frames through. The fresh, green smell of the treetops was replaced by the dank, musty smell of decay, and indeed there was no greenery this far down in the forest, only the occasional patch of fungus. Bastila and Andra led the way, following the dark sense of the star map as clearly as a pilot might follow a landing beacon. As they wound their way along the forest floor, they could hear strange animal calls echoing back and forth around them, and occasionally a glint of light would reflect back out of the darkness from some pair of strange eyes. The entire group remained constantly on their guard, but for the first few hours, none of the creatures drew near enough for the off-worlders to see them, frightened away either by the size of the group or the unfamiliar light or some combination of the two. It wasn't until they had gone nearly a dozen kilometers that a group of kinrath burst out of the shadows to attack them. Only the Jedi senses of Andra, Bastila, and Juhani gave the crew enough warning to ready their weapons before the creatures were upon them, venom-coated pincers clicking.

The three Jedi's lightsabers, two golden and one blue, glowed brightly in the darkness of the forest, and a flurry of blaster bolts shot from the muzzles of Carth's pistols, two of them burning holes in the carapace of one of the kinrath while another missed its intended target but hit another of the animals that was coming up behind the first and the rest flew past to scorch the dirt or the trunk of one of the enormous wroshyyr trees. The two that had been hit went down, ichor gushing from the wounds in their exoskeletons, while three more fell prey to the Jedi's blades. Canderous eliminated a sixth with a well-placed spray of shots from his repeating blaster rifle and, at least for the moment, the threat was eliminated. The offworlders hurried on their way before the noise of the brief scuffle could attract enough attention to overwhelm even their fairly large group, and for another half an hour the uneasy silence they had been traveling in returned. Then, as they drew within a couple kilometers of the place where the star map was, they caught sight of the green glow of a lightsaber in the distance. Andra broke from the steady walk they had been moving at into a run. _I certainly didn't expect to find another Jedi down here. _By the time they reached the source of the glow, the fighting had long since finished, and they found a dark-skinned man who looked to be around 60 years old standing surrounded by the corpses of several katarn, each of them showing the clear marks of lightsaber wounds.

He watched the approach of the newcomers with curiosity on his slightly wrinkled face. "I thought I sensed outsiders crashing around down here. And Jedi, no less. Stirred the entire forest up with your damnable racket."

"You're a Jedi too," the Padawan pointed out. "Or at least, you fight with a lightsaber."

"I use a lightsaber, yes, and I command the Force, and I try to follow the Jedi code in my own way. I suppose that makes me a Jedi to most people. But we can talk about this more back at my camp where it's safer. Keep close; the Shadowlands are a dangerous place for strangers like yourselves. It's not very far." Indeed, just a few hundred meters away in a clearing was a rough but well-built little hut, made of logs that appeared to have been cut using a lightsaber. The old man paused outside the door. "I'd invite you inside but we wouldn't all fit. You can pull up a bit of stump, though, if you'd like to rest your feet a while. We should discuss a few things. " He gestured to a fallen tree trunk lying next to one of the side walls of the house, and the organics in the group gladly settled themselves on it while HK-47 remained standing behind them and the astromech, T3, took up a position in front of the log. Carth, naturally, managed to squeeze in next to Andra, and her heart gave a little lurch that had nothing to do with being in such an unfamiliar environment and everything to do with the feeling of his hip and his leg pressed against hers. When his arm snaked around her waist to rest against her opposite hip, it was very nearly her undoing. She ached to throw herself into his arms and kiss him until they finished what they had started back on the space station, but the presence of the others held her back, though she doubted any of them could see where Carth had placed his hand.

"Yes, we do have some things to talk about," the former soldier agreed. "Such as what you're doing down here in the Shadowlands."

The old man shrugged. "Me? This is my home. Did none of the Wookies tell you about Jolee Bindo, the crazy old hermit in the woods? The better question is what are _you _doing here?"

"We're looking for a star map. It shouldn't be very far from here… would you happen to know anything about it?"

Jolee's dark-eyed gaze narrowed suddenly in concentration, as if he were trying to recall some distant memory. "Now why would you be asking about that? No, no, don't answer," he added hastily. "I knew that had to be why you were here. The problems of a few Wookies don't amount to anything next to the concerns of the Jedi."

"But we do care about the problems of the Wookiees too," protested Mission. "Chuundar has my best friend Zaalbar prisoner and says he won't let him go unless we kill their father. I don't want to do that but I can't just leave him there with those Czerka core-slimes!"

The dark-skinned human nodded. "Aah yes, Freyyr. I may be able to help you with that. He knows me; when he first came down here, I helped him pass further into the Shadowlands where only a Wookiee could follow. Your star map is also there. It is fortunate we met when we did; you wouldn't have gotten much further without my help in any case. There are literally walls in your way, and I'm the only one besides the Czerka that knows how to get past them.

Andra leaned back on the log, crossing her arms skeptically. "So you're offering to help us?"

"What I am proposing is that you allow me to join you in your mission and when you leave Kashyyyk, you take me with you. In return, I will help you find the star map… and perhaps a Wookiee you are seeking as well."

Andra flicked a glance at Bastila, and then Carth, and got nods from both of them in return. "Welcome aboard, Jolee."

As they continued on their way back to the path they had been following before their encounter with Jolee, Andra hung toward the front of the group to talk to the old man.

"So, Jolee… you called this place your home, but you're not a Wookiee. How did you end up here? And why in the name of the Force would you stay in the Shadowlands?"

"To answer your first question, I was actually on my way somewhere else when I crash landed here."

"And you stayed? You didn't want to get off of the forest floor, at least, if not off Kashyyyk entirely?"

"No, I didn't. I know it might be a strange concept for someone as young and impatient as yourself—"

"Hey!" Andra protested. "I'm no Mission. I'm 33 years old!"

"I heard that," the Twi'lek called from her spot toward the back of the small crowd.

"And I'm almost twice your age, so you're both kids to me. Let me tell you something—" the Jedi broke off when he realized he didn't know the name of the woman whose group he had just asked to join.

"Sorry; I should have introduced myself. I'm Andra, ensign in the Republic Fleet until I became a Padawan a couple months ago. The Mandalorian over there is Canderous; the younger man with brown hair is Carth. Bastila is the dark-haired Jedi back there and as you may have guessed, the smart-mouthed teenager is called Mission. The droids are HK-47 and T3-M4."

He nodded. "Andra, then. When you've lived as many years as I have, you'll have yourself a long, long list of memories. If you're lucky, most of them will be good. If you're not, some will be bad. And if you're really unlucky, some will be so bad that you'll never want to be reminded of them again… ever. You'll go far away, to a place that doesn't hold any memories, and there you'll be happy just to forget and be forgotten."

The female Jedi paused just in time to maneuver around a half-buried rock she had been about to trip over. "So that's why you came here? Because there was something you wanted to forget?"

Her new companion pushed aside some low-hanging vines that were blocking his passage. "Partly. I doubt I could ever fully explain it to you, even if I wanted to. Which I don't. You're being awfully nosy considering we've only just met, you know."

She shrugged. "Call me curious. I like to know the people I'm traveling with. But you might mention that observation to Carth sometime," she added with a grin. "I'm sure he'd agree with you."

"I'm old, damn it, and I'm allowed to be mysterious when I want to be. But let me ask you this: have you ever been in love? Truly in love and not simple infatuation?"

Her gaze went automatically to Carth. "Maybe. It may be a bit too early to tell for sure."

"Ah," said Jolee when he saw where she was looking. "I thought I sensed something going on there. Well, you're still at the beginning of your life. There may be other men in your future—perhaps many men. But if you're lucky, you'll find love once." He jerked his thumb in Bastila's direction. "The Jedi are always going on about how love leads to the dark side and should be avoided. But I think you and I both know that's not true. Passion can lead to anger and rage, but passion is not the same as love, and it can be controlled. That's what they should really teach you: how to control your passions while being in love. Love itself, though… love will save you, not condemn you."

Andra raised an eyebrow. "Doesn't sound like a very Jedi view to me."

"That's exactly why I left the Order and the Council behind long ago. Even if… other things… hadn't happened, I doubt they would've approved of my opinions on things such as love. I see more grey than dark or light, and grey tends to make the Jedi Masters very nervous."

"Well, at least I won't have another Bastila looking at me disapprovingly every time Carth and I so much as hold hands," Andra muttered, a snort of laughter escaping her lips. "I'm just waiting for her to give me another piece of her mind; I swear, she was bad enough before he and I were even officially together."

He shook his head. "Hardly. Love can be complicated, and it hurts sometimes. Anyone who tells you different doesn't know what he's talking about. But anyone who's even partially alive knows that you shouldn't avoid one of the greatest things in life simply because it comes with a few complications."

"Are you saying you don't think love can work in the end?" she asked, her brow furrowed slightly in confusion.

"Not at all. But in any relationship, there are going to be rough patches. How you deal with that is the real test, and what determines the dark side's hold over you. Sometimes you can work things out if you just hold on… and sometimes, no matter how hard you try, you and the one you love simply aren't meant to be together. The trick is to be able to tell the difference, to know when it's time to fight and when it's time to let go. But there I go waxing philosophical when we have a mission to get on with."

It wasn't until then that Andra realized they had stopped in front of a block in the path they were following. Though the only visible sign of the force field was a faint shimmering in the air—and even that was only visible because of the light from Bastila's glow lantern—in the Force, the field gave off an energy signature that should have stuck out like a sore thumb amid the mostly natural environment of the Shadowlands. Carth pressed his hands against the barrier, studying it curiously, while Bastila watched from a distance.

"I take it this is what you meant by 'walls', Jolee?" Bastila inquired.

"Yes. Wonderfully subtle, isn't it? Certainly more than those Czerka fools are capable of. I'd guess Revan and Malak themselves put it here to keep anyone else from finding the star map. But they taught their Czerka allies how to bypass it, and I've seen it done more than once. Let's see if I remember…"

He crouched down and felt for a control panel half-buried in the dirt. A few button presses later, the shimmering faded and the group of nine passed through, continuing their trek toward the star map.


	21. Chapter 21

A/N: If this chapter took a turn for the fluffy at the end, blame my personal life, which had me on cloud 9 for most of today while I was finishing it :) As always, due credit to my beta, Sia, and to Bioware.

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Compared to the previous two star maps, reaching the one buried on the forest floor of Kashyyyk was almost anticlimactic. It wasn't housed in a cave guarded by an enormous krayt dragon like the one on Tatooine or locked inside a tomb full of traps and dangerous creatures like the one on Korriban. It was simply sitting there on the ground in the middle of a clearing much like any other except for the presence of a small computer built against the trunk of one of the giant trees.

Andra reached out hesitantly to press the button on the front of the console and a holographic figure flickered to life. It was humanoid in appearance, but the conical head and bulging eyes did not belong to any species she recognized.

"Life forms detected," a mechanical voice announced. "Determining parameters. Initiating neural recognition."

Jolee had come to stand next to Andra. "Yes, there's the thing. The star map is right over there but this obstinate machine controls it, and good luck getting it operational. I've tried to access it before, but it always mutters something about rejected patterns—"

"Primary neural recognition complete. Preliminary match found."

"What the—" the old man's mouth was hanging open slightly and he closed it; the thoughtful expression returned to his face as he looked from Andra to Bastila and back again, but the computer's speech broke in, cutting off whatever else he might have said.

"Begin socialized interface. Greetings. It has been some time since the last access of this terminal."

"Umm… greetings to you too. How come you acknowledged me when you wouldn't recognize Jolee before?"

"Error: subject displays unfamiliarity with environment. Behavioral reconfiguration will be needed before access. I am sorry, I did not mean to confuse you. I will answer your questions to the best of my ability."

The Padawan looked around, uncertain where to focus her gaze, and finally settled on the eyes of the holographic figure. While it may not have been the most accurate in terms of where the computer's visual sensors were, assuming that it even had any, at least she could pretend she was having a conversation with another living being. "Let's start with the one I just asked: why have you recognized me?"

"Preliminary matching fits you to the allowed pattern in system memory and my programming permits me to give you access to basic system information. Certain data, however, will require additional security access."

"Are you allowed to tell me anything about the star map over there?" She pointed in the direction of the familiar three-pronged device, which, unlike the previous ones they had found, refused to automatically open upon her approach.

"Accessing: Yes, I have found a star map in original system memory. More data than that will require additional security access."

She pursed her lips thoughtfully. "So the map is as old as the installation itself, then?"

"Error: data regarding the authors of the star map is corrupted. Last Builder communication 29,642 years before current Republic date. This holographic interface was installed to better access the data stored within the pre-existing system… programming keys indicate no earlier than 4 years earlier than current Republic date."

Andra's gaze flickered to Bastila; from the expression on the younger woman's face, the two Padawans were having the same thoughts.

"Four years ago would put it about the time when Revan and Malak were looking for the Star Forge," Bastila observed.

"Error: Data on subject "Revan" unavailable. Likelihood of removal by previous user: 100%."

"A 5 will get you the hand pot that 'previous user' was Revan herself," the former soldier muttered with a half-annoyed snort. "And if that's the case, a 2 will get you the hand pot she set it up so that only she could access this facility. But then why…" Her eyes narrowed in suspicion. "Why has the interface recognized me?"

The normally unflappable Bastila fidgeted and coughed nervously, her cheeks flushing. "Let us simply be grateful that it has. Computer, what steps are necessary to gain this additional security access you mentioned earlier?"

"Initial subject must be made to match the paramaters I have been supplied. Personality profiling will verify the basic structure of her conscious mind. With that, I can determine whether she is ready to receive the star map, or can be made ready." The holographic gaze of the humanoid returned to Andra. "Would you like to begin testing now? I should warn you that access will terminate with success or failure of evaluation, so if you still have further questions, you should ask them now."

"No, I think that's all. Go ahead and start. Don't think, Bastila," she hissed in the younger woman's ear, "that this means you're off the hook. You know something, and once we get back to the ship, you and I are going to have a long talk until you spit it out." Her companion's only response was more nervous fidgeting, her hands moving to brush dirt off the front of her Jedi robes.

"Evaluation commencing," the computer announced. "Results will be compared against the pattern in memory. Just act like you should. First question: You travel with a Wookiee. Hypothetical: You and this Zaalbar are captured and separated. If you both remain silent, you will each be sentenced to one year in prison. If one of you accuses the other, the accused serves 5 years while the other serves none. If you both accuse each other, you each serve two years. What do you do? What do you trust him to do?"

"I say nothing, and I trust him to do the same," the Padawan answered confidently.

The computer sounded surprised, at least, as far as a mechanical voice was capable of portraying emotion. "Are you certain? If you turn, you risk two years or none at all. If you rely on loyalty, you risk one year or _five_. You take a dangerous risk with this choice. You have answered incorrectly."

"Nevertheless," Andra answered, her chin raising slightly, "That is my answer and I refuse to change it."

"The evaluation must continue. You must match the pattern in memory. _Your _memory. It is a condition of my programming to demand honest acceptance of the proper behavior."

"This machine certainly seems to be biased in its idea of what 'proper behavior' is," observed Carth wryly over the sound of the mechanical voice presenting the next question.

"The previous incorrect response will be discounted. Future incorrect responses will result in rejection. Hypothetical: You are the leader of an army at war. Deciphering an intercepted code, you learn two things about your enemy. First, a single spot in their defenses will be at its weakest in ten days. Second, they intend to attack one of your cities in five days."

The Padawan's gaze lost focus as she concentrated on the problem described. "How strong are my defenses in that city? Can they hold off the attack? Do I have the forces to successfully attack the weak spot?"

"Your power is not sufficient to both reinforce the city's defenses enough to withstand an attack and successfully attack your enemy 5 days later. You must chose one or the other or you trade one success for two failures."

"Then I prepare my forces to attack in ten days and let the city fall." Her voice was quiet, shaken; she could hardly believe her own ears. From the look on Carth's face, he couldn't believe it either.

"You mean you'd just let all those people die? That's monstrous!"

Andra brushed a tear from her cheek. Though the question was purely hypothetical, for a moment that city and its people had felt so _real_ to her. "I know. But how many more people would die if the war went on? Sacrificing the city saves more lives in the long run."

"Now you're talking like Revan and Malak during the Mandalorian Wars. They used that reasoning to justify all kinds of horrors, including Malachor. Did you ever hear the story of what happened there?"

She shook her head. "Only that it was the place where we finally won the war."

"Sure, that's true. But I was there and we lost nearly as many men as the Mandalorians, all of them crushed in the gravity of the superweapon Revan's general had installed on the planet. The strain nearly tore Malachor itself apart. Even worse than Telos, or Taris, if you can imagine that being possible."

She shuddered at the memory of the agony she had felt during their escape from Taris. _I really couldn't imagine anything worse. But I would never let an entire planet be destroyed like that, much less do it myself. _Suddenly, though, she wasn't so sure what she would or wouldn't do given the right circumstances.

"You achieved the proper response with logic that does not match the pattern in memory. I shall adjust my evaluation accordingly. Hypothetical: remove the ongoing war from the previous example. Any enemy states are weak and remote. With no external threat, your people become complacent and begin to question you. Same scenario as before: you discover that a group of rebels is planning an attack in five days, but they will be vulnerable to attack in ten days, except that in this case the enemy does not intend a sustained conflict. What do you do now?"

"I stop the attack," she answered, much more confidently this time. "My first duty is to protect my people."

"In doing so, you coddle them, and they will lack a common enemy to unite against. Your empire will crumble from introspection. Access denied: you have failed to match the pattern in memory and will be purged as a false subject. Defense mode initiated."

Suddenly, a pair of droids which Andra had previously mistaken for large rocks hummed to life, shedding copious amounts of dirt and debris from their energy shields, and trained their weapons on the group of travelers. Carth immediately dove toward Andra, tackling her to the ground as blaster bolts shot over their heads. _Okay, maybe not so anticlimactic after all_ she amended, reaching out to the Force to shove one of them onto its 's lightsaber came up with the speed only a Jedi's reflexes could manage, blocking as many of the shots aimed at the group as she could manage.

"Stay down," Mission yelled to the couple lying in the dirt and flung an ion grenade past them at the droids. It exploded in a burst of crackling blue electricity and Andra could smell the stink of ozone drift through the air. For an instant the droids were paralyzed, their energy shields disabled. In that moment, Juhani launched into a Force-enhanced flip which landed her right in front of one of them and split it down the middle with her sky-blue blade. Jolee sent his lightsaber spinning at the other and separated its top half from its bottom. When no further threats presented themselves, the group began to relax again and Carth and Andra climbed to their feet, brushing dirt off their clothes. The computer, with the alien hologram still glowing from its projector, spoke again.

"Neural scan complete. Analyzing. Well, it would appear initial assumptions about you were incorrect. Secondary scans during battle have revealed much. Under duress, your emotions were easier to read. Programming now instructs that I give you what you seek."

The Padawan folded her arms across her chest. "And what did those secondary scans reveal that made you change your mind when I failed your initial test?"

"That information is not available," the computer replied. "Soon you will recognize the proper course to follow. The star map is yours, and this unit has now finished with the subject. Executing final action." As the hologram flickered and died, the prongs of the star map clicked open to reveal the limited image of the galaxy that by the fourth time had become so familiar to Andra, and yet was always slightly different depending on the data each map contained. She jotted the new coordinates down while Carth watched over her shoulder.

"Those look like they're out in the Unknown Regions somewhere. But there's still not enough to plot a hyperspace jump with; this 'Star Forge' could be anywhere in a cube about a light year on each side. That's too big an area to search."

"Then I guess it's on to Manaan. And we'd better hope the map there completes these coordinates."

"I'm certain it will," Bastila assured them. "The Dark Lord and Malak must have found the Star Forge somehow without having to search for years."

"Hey, don't forget about Zaalbar! We still need to rescue him from that…" she muttered a Twi'leki curse that sounded especially shocking delivered in her youthful voice, "brother of his."

Andra finished typing and tucked her datapad back in the pocket of the cloak she was wearing. "We haven't forgotten, Mission. But it's been a long day and a lot of walking for all of us. I think we should find somewhere safe to stay for the night."

They found another clearing a safe distance away from the sinister sense of the star map and made themselves as comfortable as they could given the surroundings and the limited supplies they had brought from the _Ebon Hawk_. Carth cleared an area for a fire, setting up a circle of rocks to ring the wood and kindling the others brought from the trees at the edge of the clearing. Within a few minutes, they had a good-sized blaze lighting the camp and driving away the damp and cold of the forest floor. The pilot leaned back against a convenient log, an arm wrapped around his new girlfriend, who was currently snuggled against his side, her head resting against his shoulder.

"You've been awfully quiet since we found the star map," he said after several minutes passed in silence.

"I know. I've just been thinking about the test that computer put me through. I always wondered how Revan and Malak could have gone from being heroes of the Republic to Dark Lords of the Sith, but now I think I understand. It has to do with the very nature of war. When the only choice is between 'bad' and 'worse', it's a very slippery slope and sometimes no matter how careful you try to be, you end up falling anyway."

Carth nodded. "There's a reason I don't like to think about my past battles if I can help it. I hope when all this is over we finally get some peace. I've seen enough of war for one lifetime."

"What would you do when the war is over?" asked Andra, her eyes drifting closed in drowsy contentment.

He shrugged a shoulder, mindful of her head leaned against his other shoulder. "Oh, I would probably stay in the Fleet, at least for a few years. There's going to be a lot of rebuilding to do and plenty of need for pilots to handle the transport for those projects. If I could, I would try to get myself stationed at Telos. I'd really like to see my home get back to the way it used to be before the Sith came."

"Not to mention it would let you stay close to Dustil?"

"Well, yes, there's that too. Besides, being stationed on a planet would keep me in one place. No long patrols or deployments to interfere with us being together." He smiled fondly down at the woman curled up against him and brushed back a lock of dark hair that had fallen across her face.

Her lips curved upward slightly. "I like the sound of that. I'm sure there will be plenty for a soldier-turned-Jedi to do on Telos."

"Oh, I can think definitely think of a few things."

She could feel his chest shaking in laughter against her side and her smile widened into an all-out grin. "Now that's an interesting idea. Why don't we talk about that?"

He planted a kiss on the top of her head. "Who said anything about talking? But not when everyone is watching like this."

Her grin faded into a mock pout. "You always say 'later'. When's it going to be 'now'?"

"There _will _be time for us, I promise. But it has to be the right time." He tightened his grip about her waist. "You're too important to me to mess this up for the sake of a little fun."

"You're right, of course, but it's just so frustrating when that 'right time' never seems to come. This is nice, though. It almost feels like we're just a normal couple on a normal camping trip." She drew in a deep breath, savoring the almost spicy scent of the campfire smoke in her nostrils. "I love this smell… always reminds me of home. Back on Deralia, my family lived near the coast. Sometimes during the summer we would go down to the beach at night, light a bonfire, and just sit around it, talking and listening to the crackling of the flames and the crash of the waves on the shore."

"That sounds like a good way to spend a summer evening. I'd like to go to Deralia with you sometime and meet your family."

Her smile returned. "I'd like that. My mother is gone but my father is still there, as is my younger sister and her family. You should meet my nieces… they're quite a handful."

"Yes, I remember quite well what little kids can be like from raising Dustil." Again she could feel as well as hear his laughter. "I could tell you all kinds of stories about the trouble he used to get in when he was young."

"Maybe another time," she murmured sleepily. For a long time they simply stayed as they were, Carth staring into the flames as Andra drifted off into a peaceful sleep until he reluctantly, ever-so-gently, lowered her to the ground and lay down next to her. Despite the hard ground, that night he slept better and longer than he had in many years.


	22. Chapter 22

A/N: This update is long overdue, I know. But personal matters killed any desire I had to write, and then once that got cleared up, I got slammed with a crap-ton of pre-Thanksgiving work. Here it is, though, and you will be pleased to know that a good portion of the upcoming chapters have already been written, so the next update won't be so long in coming. Those of you who played the game know what's coming, so enjoy!

* * *

The first thing Carth saw when he woke the next morning was a pair of light brown eyes staring down at him, set in an olive-skinned face which was currently smiling broadly. "Good morning, handsome. So you really do sleep after all."

"Good morning, beautiful," he answered with a smile. "And yes, I already told you I do sleep. I'm just not used to waking up this late."

She laughed. "Only you would call an hour past dawn 'late'. Come on, sleepyhead. Let's eat breakfast so we can get on the road and see about getting Zaalbar back from Chuundar.

Once they had gathered their things, Jolee led them through the forest with the confidence of one who had both lived there for many years and was also a Jedi. After only about 20 minutes, they heard the sounds of battle, and when they reached the origin of the clamor, they found a Wookiee standing over the corpses of three humans in the uniforms of Czerka Corporation.

"More of you Czerka core-rats?" the Wookiee snarled. "Is even the heart of Kashyyyk no longer free from your kind?"

"Calm yourself, Freyyr. You remember me, Jolee Bindo," said the old Jedi, and Andra could feel the added weight of the Force behind his words, a concentrated stream of peaceful, soothing emotions that seemed to have no effect on the enraged former Chieftain.

"I remember only that outsiders are not to be trusted. I'll see you dead before I let you continue to enslave my people and my world!"

He drew a wicked-looking sword, larger and heavier than any human could wield, and brought it back for a strike that could have split a human in half if the blade hadn't rebounded against an invisible wall of Force Jolee had interposed between the Wookiee and the offworlders. Freyyr strained with all his might against the barrier, but it still held, and finally he lowered his weapon.

"Very well. Take my head, if that is your wish; I swear you will not get another chance."

"We're not here to fight you, Freyyr," Jolee explained. "We want to help."

"The words of outsiders are tainted with lies. You think you can convince me otherwise?"

"We're not here for us," a youthful soprano chimed in and Mission squeezed her way to the front of the group. "Chuundar has Zaalbar prisoner and we need your help to get him free."

The Wookiee's face seemed surprised, at least, as far as Andra could tell in the dim light. "My sons! But Zaalbar was exiled. How is it that he returns now?"

"He came with us on our ship," Andra answered.

"He travels with you, human? Do you dare claim to be his owner?"

The Twi'lek and the human woman shook their heads in unison. "Big Z is my friend," the teenager answered. "That's why he's been helping us on our mission against the Sith."

"He follows freely, out of friendship? Then he must see something of worth in you. I will listen, then, but cautiously. I have been too gullible in the past; had I recognized my traitorous son for what he was sooner, I would not have made the mistake of exiling Zaalbar. The shame of his attack blinded me to the truth."

"But there has to be a way to make things right," the Padawan insisted. "There has to be a way to win your son his freedom without us having to kill you, which is what Chuundar wanted us to do."

Freyyr seemed to consider for a moment. "There may be. It would take a lot to convince my people my son has been lying to them, but if I appeal to the traditions of our people, I might be able to gain enough support to face Chuundar if I also had your help. There is a legend that speaks of an ancient warrior named Bacca, who forged a blade from the wreckage of a crashed ship he found on the surface. For centuries the sword was the symbol of our greatest chieftains, but in his arrogance, Chieftain Rothrrrawr sought a challenge too great for him and went to fight the great beast. He survived, but the blade was broken, remaining stuck in the creature's thick hide while the hilt remained with Rothrrrawr and has continued to be passed down from one chieftain to another until now it is in the hands of my son, a traitor to our people. If we could recover the blade, it might cast doubt on his rule."

She glanced around to assess the opinions of the crew, then nodded. "Alright, we'll try it your way. What do you know about where this blade is now?"

As they lifted off from Kashyyyk that evening, Andra marveled at the change a single day had brought to the planet. Chuundar was dead and Freyyr had been reinstated as chieftain. The Czerka had abandoned Kashyyyk entirely, deciding that the profits to be made from enslaving the Wookiees were no longer worth the trouble now that the slaves were no longer being passive victims. Aboard the _Ebon Hawk, _the chieftain's son stood in the cargo hold taking a few practice swings with the newly reforged Bacca's Blade. Though the Padawan didn't know what exactly had passed between Zaalbar and his father in their private meeting before the ship's departure, the younger Wookiee seemed calmer, more at peace… almost happy, or as close to happy as she had ever seen him. A small, satisfied smile played across Andra's lips and she went to join Carth in the cockpit. He turned and smiled when he heard her footsteps approaching.

"You're just in time. We're about to make the jump to hyperspace." Even as he spoke, a ping from the console announced that they were clear of Kashyyyk's gravity well and he turned back to pull the lever that would send them into hyperspace. The ship seemed to freeze in space as the stars elongated into lines before fading into the swirl of color that marked travel at faster-than-light speeds. Once the ship was set in its course, he rose to his feet and rested his hands on her shoulders, the smile returning to his face. "Now we have four whole days until Manaan. Whatever are we going to do with all that time?"

"Oh, I don't know. I thought I might meditate for a while, reflect on the dangers of emotional attachment."

The teasing smile on her face brought laughter to Carth's lips. "Dangers?" He slid his hands lingeringly down her arms before moving to her waist. "What dangers would those be?"

"Well, there's always the danger that some handsome pilot might come and seduce…" she trailed her hands from his pectoral muscles down his stomach to his hips, "me to the dark side."

"The dark side? I'd much rather—" he leaned in closer and whispered something in Andra's ear that brought a flush of color to her cheeks.

"Carth Onasi!"

His only response was to pull her closer and cover her mouth with his. Her eyes drifted closed, the better to savor the sensation of his lips moving with hers, their tongues intertwining. She enfolded him in a tender embrace through the altogether too thick material of the jacket he was wearing. Almost without realizing it, they found themselves gravitating toward the pilot's chair. When the back of her legs contacted the seat, only the grip of his arms wrapped around her waist kept her knees from buckling and sending her plummeting onto the soft synthetic material. She could feel the warmth of his body heat still retained in the seat mirroring the warmth of his body pressed against hers, his hands caressing her back. Her hands went to the buttons of his flight jacket, unfastening them one by one with deliberate slowness and very much enjoying the dark curls of chest hair that revealed themselves as she worked her way down. Meanwhile he was tugging at the zipper of her jumpsuit, allowing the soft curves of her breasts to peak through from under the dark material of the clothes. She hadn't gotten more than halfway through with the jacket when a hiss of hydraulics and the sound of footsteps in the doorway announced that they were no longer alone. The couple jumped apart immediately, exchanging identical rueful looks, even before the sound of someone clearing their throat broke the silence in the cockpit. Andra zipped up her jumpsuit to a more modest level, then turned to face the visitor, though thanks to her Jedi senses she was not surprised to find Bastila's blue-grey eyes observing the scene coolly.

"What are you doing here?" the older woman snapped, barely controlled irritation in her voice.

"Mission found some gizka hiding in the supplies and I thought we might discuss what to do about the problem. I didn't realize I was interrupting."

_Sure you didn't _the former soldier thought sarcastically. _You're a Jedi, and supposedly bonded to me at that, and you couldn't tell that it might be best to at least knock before just barging in? _"Never mind. But remind me to lock the door next time. Now what's this about the gizka?"

"It appears that during our stay on Kashyyyk, a pair of gizka snuck aboard the ship. There are now nearly half a dozen of the creatures running around, and if we don't do something now, there will be even more by the time we get to Manaan."

"You really don't think this could've waited, Bastila?" The younger woman shook her head and Andra sighed. "Alright. It seems the obvious solutions are either to kill them or separate them until we get rid of them when we land. And after that, we are going to have that little talk you've been avoiding."

Carth watched the two women go with a sigh. _Andi was right; it seems like it's impossible to get any private time around here. _

Meanwhile in the cargo hold, the Padawans were busy tracking down the gizka and locking them up in some of the many empty cargo containers scattered around the room.

"How do you do it?" Bastila asked, her hands firmly gripping the last of the slippery amphibians.

Her brown-eyed companion hit the open button on yet another container. "Do what?"

"You completely disregard the teachings of the Jedi Order about attachment, and yet you follow the light side with seemingly so little effort." The moment Bastila loosened her hold on the gizka, it hopped down into the container, only to be trapped there when Andra hit the control to close and seal it. "How do you do it? Or is it not as easy for you as it seems?"

"I just do what I think is right."

The grey-eyed woman raised an eyebrow. "And that's enough for you? If only it were as simple for me. If only the right path was always clear."

Andra shrugged. "In my experience, it is most of the time. The conflict, then, isn't deciding the right path but rather following it, even when you're very much tempted to do the wrong thing."

"And what about with the computer down on Kashyyyk? Would you say the proper course of action was clear then too?"

"Hmm… perhaps you have a point there."

Bastila lowered herself onto one of the crates, seeming almost tired. "For me, the Jedi way has never been easy to master. I've always been too quick to anger. Too quick to get involved. My instructors constantly berated me for it."

The former soldier sat down on a nearby crate, studying her quizzically. "Really? I wouldn't have thought that would be a problem for you." _Pride, maybe, but not anger. I thought I was the one with the temper._

"Yes. I think of all the evil the Sith have caused and I just get so furious… I often dream that I can use all this power I have to kill Malak and stop all the death and destruction."

"But you already had that chance, didn't you? It was your Battle Meditation that gave your strike team the chance to board Revan's ship and kill her."

Bastila shook her head. "It's true that I led a strike team to board the Dark Lord's ship. We did not kill Revan, however. It was Malak who betrayed his own master, firing on her ship while we were still aboard."

Almost as if she was seeing it anew, Andra recalled the vision she'd had shortly after their first meeting. _A standoff… a Sith Lord, facing odds of four to one, still refusing to surrender. Then blinding pain, an explosion that engulfed Sith and Jedi alike… and nothingness. _"So what I saw was real, then?" Bastila merely stared at her with a blank look. "The first vision I had, as we were leaving the swoop race on Taris. Well, actually, it would be the second if you count the dream I had after Carth and I crashed on Taris as the first, but it was the same both times: you were on a ship, about to fight Revan."

"Yes, it most likely is. We had come to capture Revan alive if at all possible; that chain of events was… unexpected, to all of us. The Dark Lord's end was… unforeseen."

The older woman's eyes lit up. _Aha! The perfect opening. _"What exactly did happen? My vision didn't show anything after the explosion. Did Revan die?"

"Why would you doubt that?"

"Master Vrook seemed to be doubting it in that first meeting we had with the Council."

"Oh, that. It was merely a manner of speaking, that with the power you wield, you could become another Revan should you fall." Though Bastila did an admirable job of keeping her face neutral, the guilty twinge of emotion through their bond gave her away.

"Fine, be that way, but I can promise you that whatever you're hiding, it'll go much better for you if you tell me yourself before someone else does," her fellow Padawan warned ominously, stalking from the room in a huff.

Carth and Andra were seated in the common room eating breakfast around the little table when a thump and a distinct feeling of deceleration sent the commander racing to the cockpit, his Padawan companion close on his heels. He flung himself into the pilot's chair, hands flying over the controls like never before in his life, but it was already too late. Despite the whine of the engines, trying valiantly to respond to his commands, the _Ebon Hawk _drew inexorably closer to the large, wedge-shaped capital ship, and finally Carth had to power the ship down to avoid a total system overload. A red light on one of the control panels announced that they were too close to a gravity well to be able to enter hyperspace, despite the fact that there were no stars or planets in sight.

"Shavit," he muttered just as Bastila burst into the cockpit with a clatter of bare feet, her normally immaculate dark brown hair hanging in a disheveled mass about her shoulders.

"What happened?"

"Sith interdictor ship. Dragged us out of hyperspace and caught us in its tractor beam before I could do anything. They were waiting for us on the hyperspace route… somebody sold us out." The edge of anger in his voice promised most unpleasant things should that somebody ever cross his path.

"You're jumping to conclusions, Carth," the younger woman disagreed. "Malak must have known we were on Korriban in order to send his apprentice after Andra; if he knew that we had already been to Tatooine, he could easily have set up this ambush along the path from Kashyyyk to Manaan, knowing full well that at some point we would have to cross it."

The older woman, meanwhile, had her eyes fixed on the sensor readouts. "Carth… you might want to take a look at this."

He sat back in his chair and folded his arms across his chest, an expression of diabolical glee on his face. "I know already. It's the _Leviathan._"

"Bastila, would you mind gathering the rest of the crew? We need a plan."

The moment her younger companion was out of the room, Andra turned to face her boyfriend. "Are you going to tell them?"

"I suppose I should," he answered with a sigh. "They'll probably find out anyway and they deserve to know at least part of the story.

When the two soldiers returned to the common room, they found it much more crowded than it had been moments before when they were eating breakfast. The motley group tasked with saving the galaxy from the Sith now numbered ten in total, a situation that had strained space aboard the small freighter almost to its limits. Carth slipped into the circle next to the Padawan that had so completely changed his life and without preamble began to speak.

"We're caught in the tractor beam of a Sith cruiser, and any minute now we can expect to see their troops marching up our boarding ramp. This isn't just any ship, though. It's the _Leviathan, _captained by Admiral Saul Karath. He was a legend in the Fleet and a hero during the Mandalorian Wars until he betrayed the Republic, leading the Sith attack on my homeworld, Telos. My wife died that day and my son was captured." In the terse, clipped words, Andra could hear echoes of his voice in the Hidden Bek base on Taris: _If I ever catch up to him, he will regret what he's done. _She reached out to give his hand a squeeze.

"Don't do anything you'll regret."

"I have my priorities straight," he reassured her. "Our first concern is to find a way off of the ship. But if I get a chance to kill him during our escape, nobody'd better stand in my way."

"Talk of an escape is somewhat premature, don't you think?" Bastila pointed out. "We don't even have a way out of this mess yet."

The soldier-turned-Jedi looked around the circle, meeting the eyes or optical sensors of the beings she had come to trust with her life, last but not least meeting the brown eyes of the man she loved, which just then were as cold and hard as she ever wanted to see them. "Well, we need to come up with one, and fast. If we do nothing, it's death for all of us."

"She's right, but it won't be easy," Carth agreed. "Saul knows me. He knows how I think, what I'm capable of. He won't underestimate you two either," he added, his gaze taking in the two human women on either side of him.

The young Padawan's expression was downright devious, and Andra could almost see the wheels turning in her mind. "In that may lie our only hope of escape. Malak's attention, and therefore Admiral Karath's, will be so focused on the three of us that he may not properly respect the skills of our companions."

Juhani shifted slightly, putting a hand to the tan fur of her chin. "She is correct. I doubt any of the Sith are aware of my ability to camouflage myself using the Force. I alone of all the crew might be able to remain hidden if the Sith search the ship, and with my stealth abilities, I could sneak past the guards to free you."

Jolee nodded. "Karath or Malak are sure to be on their guard against any attempts to affect their mind using the Force. But they can only be in so many places at once. My guess is that while they deal with Bastila, Andra, and Carth, some low-level grunts will get stuck dealing with the rest of us, and I might be able to trick one of them into making a mistake."

Mission's lekku gave an occasional twitch as she considered. "And everyone seems to underestimate me because I'm 'just a kid.' The average Sith is dumber than a box of rocks; I'll bet I can come up with some way to get myself, and then the rest of you, out of there."

Just then, the ship's forward progress slowed to a halt, and the _Ebon Hawk _settled onto the deck of the _Leviathan's _hangar bay with a quiet thump. "That's it; we're out of time. Each of those plans sounds good, though, and if any of the rest of you see an opportunity, take it! The more things we try, the greater the chance one of them will work."


	23. Chapter 23

A/N: KotOR belongs to Bioware, thank you to Sia for taking the time to beta this massive project, blah blah blah etc. etc. etc. Okay, let's get back to the action already!

* * *

The moment the guards tossed their captives into the brig, Andra could feel something wrong, something which worried her enough even to override her embarrassment at being dressed in nothing but her underclothes. She tried to reach out to the Force, but felt only emptiness. "Bastila, what's happening? I can't feel the Force."

Andra followed Bastila's gaze up to the tops of their cells and saw that nutrient frames had been built on top of the force cages, each containing a strange, slothlike creature. "That would be the Ysalamiri effect," the younger woman explained.

"Ysala-what?"

"Ysalamiri. A most curious creature, hailing from the Inner Rim world of Myrkr. They have the ability to create a bubble within which one cannot feel the Force."

"How is that—never mind, it doesn't matter. What matters is the result: we're helpless." She settled down against the wall of her force cage with a sigh. "I would respect the admiral's thoroughness if it wasn't working against us."

They continued to sit in the holding cells for long minutes with nothing to do but wait and pray that at least one of their teammates would succeed in breaking free to rescue them. Carth sat on the floor of his cell in nothing but his boxers. Andra's clothing had also been confiscated and the Sith had even taken Bastila's Jedi robes. She was currently meditating, having positioned herself in her cage to guard her modesty as much as possible given that she was wearing nothing but a lacy black bra and matching panties. The older woman raised an eyebrow. _Not that I ever thought about or wanted to see what Bastila wears under her robes, but I wouldn't have guessed something so… normal? Maybe there's an actual human being hiding under that Jedi detachment after all. _Her own nerves were wound far too tightly for meditation, so she leaned against the wall of her force cage, her gaze resting on Carth. He noticed her attention and smiled, the tension in his face fading to be replaced by the tender expression he reserved only for her. The softness in his brown eyes vanished as quickly as it had come, however, when the door opened to admit a man in the crisp grey uniform of a Sith admiral. Though he couldn't possibly have missed the naked fury radiating from every line of the commander's face, he greeted the younger man as if they were old friends.

"It's been far too long, Fleet. But, whatever else may have changed in the past two years, I see you haven't lost your talent for picking up interesting travelling companions." At this, his eyes flickered over the two Jedi before returning to the soldier, whose hands were clenched in white-knuckled rage at his sides.

"You lost any right to call me that when you betrayed us, _Saul_. And if I've changed, it's because I see your face every night, even as I promise myself I will kill you for what you did to my family and my homeworld."

Andra turned to take a closer look at the older man. Physically, he did not seem very imposing. Lean and wiry, of middling height, and with grey hair already beginning to thin toward the crown of his head. _I could take him in a fair fight, no doubt. But he has the entire ship and his crew at his command, which makes it hardly fair._ "So you're Saul Karath. I've heard a lot about you."

"No doubt you have, just as I have heard a great deal about you. Bastila, of course, is already a legend in her own right, but you… the oldest Padawan accepted for training in the past century, come out of nowhere to trouble the councils of the Dark Lord himself… you are not at all what you seem to be, are you? Tell me, do your other companions know the truth?"

Andra blinked in confusion, even as a twinge of fear gnawed at her gut, a reminder of all the questions that Bastila still refused to answer. "The truth about what?"

"Your history with Lord Malak."

The fear twisting in Andra's gut intensified "What history?" _I don't have any history with Malak… unless I either don't remember or didn't realize it at the time._

He studied her for a long moment. "I almost believe you. Incredible." Suddenly, he began to laugh. "Oh, this is too priceless. Well, I won't be the one to deprive Lord Malak of the pleasure of telling you himself. He is in another sector, however, and won't be arriving for several hours yet, so I suppose I will have to fill in for him until then. Activate the torture fields." His final command was addressed to the guard standing near the room's computer console, and a wave of pure agony engulfed the prisoner. It was like every pain neuron in her body was firing at once, and the Jedi pain suppression techniques she had been taught were of almost no help without the Force. She found herself writhing on the floor of her force cage without remembering how she got there, screaming loud enough to make her lose her voice if she kept it up much longer. A very distant part of her noted the screams that were coming from the cages on either side of her. Fortunately, the pain only lasted perhaps five seconds before Admiral Karath gave the order to stop.

"Enough. I don't want them to pass out just yet."

Carth struggled to his feet, breathing heavily and with a light sheen of sweat covering his skin. His eyes went first to Andra. "Are you alright?"

She wiped a layer of sweat from her own forehead. "I wouldn't want to go through that every day, but I'll survive. You?"

"Nothing a little rest won't cure." Their gazes lingered only for a moment, but Admiral Karath didn't fail to notice the softening of Carth's expression when he looked at the Padawan, and he began to laugh again.

"Oh, this is better than a holodrama! I hope I'm around to see the look on your face when you find out—"

"Find out what, Saul?" Carth demanded.

"You are my prisoners; it is for me to interrogate you, not the other way around."

"Don't waste your breath. We won't answer any of your questions."

"I'm sure _you_ won't," agreed the admiral. "But your friend has proven in the past that her loyalties are somewhat more… flexible."

"Yeah, you would know all about flexible loyalties, wouldn't you, _Admiral_?" Andra spat. "As for mine, they're as true as Carth's." Underneath her bravado, however, her panic had returned full-force. _Why do I feel like I should know what he's talking about?_

"It is time to put that to the test. I doubt torturing you will gain me your true cooperation; your will is too strong to be broken that way. But even the strongest of heroes has trouble watching those she cares about in pain. Refuse to answer, or give a false answer, and Carth will suffer."

Andra swallowed to moisten her suddenly dry mouth. The man was clever—almost diabolically so. If it were just her own pain, she would have gladly have faced death itself rather than give up even the smallest bit of information. But the very thought of watching him torture Carth, of putting the man through even more pain than he had already endured in his life, made her almost physically ill. She cast a glance in his direction, her eyes begging him to give her some kind of direction.

"My pain is meaningless. Tell him nothing!" he encouraged. Andra felt a lump in her throat and tears stinging at her eyes. _I can't do this to him, no matter what he says. I can't . I can't just stand there and watch him suffer. And yet I have to._

"I won't betray the Jedi. Not even to save Carth."

The Sith raised an eyebrow. "We shall see. But enough of these games; now I want answers. On what planet is the Jedi Academy where you were trained?"

At the sight of Carth standing there, every muscle consciously relaxed in preparation for what was going to come, the resolve she had expressed just moments before crumbled like sand before the water. _Tell him? Refuse and watch Carth suffer? Or is there a third option? _"Alderaan. It's on Alderaan." She hardly needed to work to feign a suitably broken tone of voice.

"Alderaan? You really expect me to fall for such a transparent lie? Alderaan is nothing but a planet of artisans and philosophers; there is no Jedi academy there. Very well, this is the price of your resistance." He nodded to the guard and Andra squeezed her eyes shut, clapping her hands over her ears, but even so, she heard quite clearly the crackle of the torture field and Carth's screams of agony. She wished she could reach out to the Force to deafen herself to the sound, but with the ysalamiri above their cages, it was impossible. And even if it were, did she deserve such an easy escape? His suffering was her fault and she deserved to feel every last bit of it, deserved to know exactly what she was putting him through. And feel it she did, as vividly as if every shock of electricity from the torture field in his cage was coursing through her nerves instead of his and every scream he let out was being ripped from her own throat.

"Enough," Saul finally ordered, and his prisoner opened her eyes, though she still avoided looking in the direction of her companion, afraid to see justified anger in his eyes. "You see what happens when you refuse to cooperate? This first question was a test; obviously Malak knew the academy was on Dantooine, and it has since been destroyed by our fleet."

Andra felt her knees go weak and her face pale. "No! You're lying!" He had to be. The stone rooms and vine-covered courtyards where she had first touched the Force, the mess hall where she and Carth had shared so many meals during her training, all the people she had met there… they couldn't just be gone, turned to rubble and ash like so many other planets.

"I am not. Whether you believe me or not, the Jedi on Dantooine have in fact been eliminated, along with any hope of someone coming to rescue you—assuming they could have even found you in the first place here in deep space. Now it is time to move on to more serious questions: what was your mission? How were the Jedi planning on using you to stop Lord Malak and our Sith armada?"

Andra crossed her arms in defiance. "I said I wouldn't betray the Jedi and the Republic."

"Are you certain? Perhaps you need a reminder of the consequences of defiance?" He signaled the guard again, whose finger descended with agonizing slowness toward the button that would trigger the torture field, giving the Padawan long seconds to regret and reconsider her decision. _No! Carth wouldn't want me to break. _She clung to that thought with all her might as she once again heard the pilot's cries of agony, but it seemed increasingly hollow in the face of such pain. More than once, her lips parted, the words that would end the torture and betray them all hanging on the tip of her tongue, but every time she tried to speak, her voice failed her. Her body refused to let her break even when her spirit had long since broken, and the sound of Carth's voice pleading for the pain to stop stabbed into her heart with the searing heat of a lightsaber blade.

"Listen," said Saul when the torture field had been deactivated once more. "Can you not hear him suffering? You can spare him further pain if you just answer my questions. I will ask again: on what mission did the Jedi Council send you?" Tears streamed openly down Andra's cheeks. _I can't take this. I can't take this anymore. Forget what Carth told me, forget the Jedi code, I can't possibly live knowing I let him keep suffering like this when it was within my power to stop it. But how could I live knowing I betrayed our mission to Malak? How could I go to my grave knowing that because of me, the Republic and the Jedi Order will fall? _And as she shook her head in refusal, the bitter tears came faster and faster until they ran down her face and neck, the drops of salty liquid trickling down her chest and her breasts like raindrops down a window pane. Just that morning she would have sworn on her life that he was the most important thing in her world, but there was one thing stronger than her love for him: duty. The realization brought with it fresh tears of self-loathing. _Duty before love. The perfectly Jedi choice. Bastila would be so proud._ "Very well, then, it seems another lesson is in order." This time, she heard words quite clearly among the screams and whimpers.

"No! No! I beg you, mercy! No!" Quite suddenly, the soldier collapsed to the ground and the Jedi's weeping intensified still further. _Oh, please let him just be unconscious. Please don't let him die because of me. Force, please say he isn't dead. _She sagged in relief when she saw his chest moving steadily up and down.

"I am surprised he did not pass out sooner," Admiral Karath remarked. "Rarely have I seen someone withstand such punishment and remain conscious. Well, I see I am wasting my time here. I promise you this much: when Malak arrives, you will wish you still had only me to deal with. For now, I will leave you with just a small taste of the horrors you will endure at Lord Malak's hands." He gave a few murmured instructions to the guard before departing, and the door had barely closed behind him before the agony of the torture field began again, driving all rational thought, and eventually consciousness itself, from Andra's mind.

She was uncertain how much later it was when she came to, moaning as a myriad of aches and pains made themselves felt.

"Easy there, beautiful," Carth's familiar tenor cautioned. "You might not be fully recovered yet. Bastila says Saul had his guards continue to torture you after you passed out. He tortured all of us, but you got the worst of it by far."

Andra let out a sound somewhere between a cry and a laugh. "Me? You're the one Saul tortured every time I didn't tell him what he wanted to know. I'm so sorry," she sobbed. "I wanted nothing more than to stop the pain for you, but I couldn't. I c…c…couldn't betray the Republic and the J…J….Jedi."

"Ssh," he soothed, pressing a hand against the wall of his force cage as if he wanted nothing more than to reach out and comfort her. "I know. I know you would never intentionally do anything to cause me pain. You had no other choice; you couldn't betray our mission. I don't honestly know if I could have been as strong in your place, to watch you suffer like that… I… I might have cracked." He shook his head. "Torturing us after the interrogation was over, though, was just sick. Saul was always pragmatic when necessary to obtain intelligence to protect his men, but he never used to be such a sadistic monster."

"The dark side has perverted him, Carth," Bastila answered. "Once you start down the tainted path it leads you ever further into the depths of evil. I fear he is forever lost."

Andra drew a few shaky breaths to get herself back under control. "As a Jedi, I should probably point out that no one is ever completely beyond hope of redemption or something like that." She winced at the ache of protest from her sore muscles as she attempted to shift herself into a more comfortable position. "But I'm not holding my breath in his case."

"Yes, hmm, you are correct," Bastila allowed. "I suppose I am taking the destruction of Dantooine very hard. First Telos, then Taris, and now the academy… will there never be an end to the killing?"

The older woman put her hands to her face in frustration. "I know. I can only hope that maybe he was lying to bluff us into giving up."

"I'd like to believe that, but my instincts say he was telling the truth. Revan and Malak trained on Dantooine for a time, so the Dark Lord knew of the academy long ago. With Taris fallen, the way to Dantooine would be open for his fleet. I can only hope that some of the Jedi escaped. Vrook, Vandar, Zhar… I cannot imagine all of them being gone. In any case, we have lost our one place of refuge in the galaxy. The fact that we did not feel a disturbance in the Force when that happened is a bad sign... the dark side is growing ever stronger, casting shadows on the Force that our vision cannot pierce."

"Uh, would this be a good time to point out that we have more immediate concerns? Like the fact that we're still in a prison with Malak himself on the way?" interrupted Carth.

"Unless you have a suggestion for how we are going to escape with both Andra and me temporarily cut off from the Force, our rescue lies in the hands of our friends… and the Force."

The three prisoners spent most of the wait sitting in silence, Carth and Andra leaning against the walls of their cells in such a way as to be sitting as close to each other as possible while Bastila resignedly ignored the two soldiers' display of affection. Time seemed to pass strangely in the enforced inactivity of the prison, so Andra was unsure how long it had been when the door opened again, this time to reveal the rest of the crew of the Ebon Hawk, even the droids, with Juhani and Canderous at the front ready for any potential trouble. A quick leap and a slash of Juhani's lightsaber eliminated the single guard in the room with them. Through the open door, the human woman could see several bodies of Sith troopers lying scattered around the floor of the room outside.

With the threat eliminated, Mission settled herself in front of the security console. A few seconds later, the force fields on the three cells flickered and died.

Andra stretched herself out with an unabashed grin on her face. The first step she took outside the sphere of influence of the ysalamiri was like being able to see again after being blind, and she reveled in every second of it. The reassuring steadiness of Carth's presence, and even the agitation she could sense from Bastila through their bond, were almost as sweet as being able to move freely again. "Thank the Force you made it!"

"And thank each of you for your role in this," Bastila added, her Coruscanti accent making the words sound even more pompous than they would have normally. "You have proven yourselves worthy of the trust the Council showed in sending you with us."

Carth glanced around the room briefly to get his bearings. "If I remember right, our equipment should be stored in the room right through the starboard doors. After we get what we need, we'll need to get to the Leviathan's bridge to open the hangar doors and disable the tractor beam holding us in place."

"The ten of us can't very well fight the entire ship, Carth," Andra pointed out. "We're going to have to rely on stealth and speed to get to the bridge and back."

Bastila slipped her Jedi robes over her head. "She's right. No more than," she paused to consider, "three of us, I think, should be in the group heading to the bridge."

"Don't even think about trying to keep me out of that group, Bastila." Carth disabled the safety on his primary blaster with a very ominous-sounding click. "I've still got a score to settle with the Admiral and chances are we'll find him on the _Leviathan's _bridge."

Andra was checking out her lightsaber to make sure the Sith hadn't sabotaged it at all. "I'd better come too, if only to keep you from doing something stupid in the name of revenge."

"Good idea. We might need your powerful Force abilities to deal with any trouble we encounter. And I will be the third member of the group. The rest of you should head down to the docking bay to secure the _Ebon Hawk_ for our departure. There are sure to be guards…"

"You just leave that to me." Canderous cracked his knuckles menacingly.

HK-47 hefted his blaster rifle. "Statement: I will take great pleasure in blasting any organic meatbags foolish enough to get in our way."

Andra put a hand to her forehead. "Leaving those two to their own devices may be a bad idea. Their method of dealing with problems tends to be the opposite of 'stealth'."

"They will do fine," Bastila assured her. "But we need to get moving, now. I can feel Malak's presence approaching, and none of us wants to be here when he arrives."


	24. Chapter 24

A/N: Sorry for the delay; finals kind of got in the way, not to mention my boyfriend got me hooked on Starcraft II. Anyway, here it is: the moment you've all been waiting for. Enjoy!

* * *

The trek to the bridge was a long and nerve-wracking one. At one point, the three escaped prisoners even stole some of the spacesuits used by the _Leviathan's_ crew to allow them to sneak past the majority of the command deck. But at last they stood inside the bridge of the Leviathan and, as Carth had predicted, Saul was there.

"Very resourceful, Fleet," he congratulated his former protégé. "I assume you had a hand in planning this? You learned your lessons well from me."

"The only thing you taught me was betrayal and death, Saul," Carth snarled.

"Don't be a fool! I am giving you all a chance to surrender. A chance to live. Darth Malak could be arriving any moment. He will destroy you, but if you throw down your weapons now, I will ask my Master to be merciful."

Carth drew his blasters, but rather than surrender them, he pointed both of them directly at Saul's chest. "I've had enough of Sith 'mercy'."

At that point, chaos erupted on the bridge. Saul dove out of the way with the agility of a much younger man, barely managing to avoid Carth's shots. The two Jedi drew their lightsabers and advanced towards the guards, deflecting the hail of blaster fire that the Sith troopers sent their way. Andra gave silent thanks that there were no ysalamiri up here. _We'd be in some serious trouble if there were. But it seems the admiral's thoroughness did not extend that far. Maybe the last mistake he'll ever make—_ She swept her blade through one final trooper and paused to evaluate the situation. Between the three of them, they had managed to eliminate the guards on the bridge, but an alarm was now blaring through the ship. Over the buzzing of the alert, the Republic citizens barely heard the voice struggling to speak.

"Carth, Carth."

"The admiral!" Bastila exclaimed, startled. "He's still alive." Andra saw that she was correct. Blood from the blaster wound in Saul Karath's upper abdomen had stained his formerly spotless admiral's uniform and pooled on the ground where he lay, but he was still very much conscious and breathing.

Carth approached his former mentor, blaster at the ready. "It's time to finish this."

Andra ran after him, catching up in just a handful of strides. "No! Not like this!" she pleaded, laying a hand on his gun arm.

"You know what he's done to my life, the pain he's brought me."

"Killing him won't ease the pain, Carth. Do not become what you despise," said Bastila from where she stood several meters away. All three of them fell silent when Saul began to speak again.

"Onasi… must tell you… must tell you something. Come closer." The pilot reluctantly did as he was told, though he kept his blaster pointed at the admiral as he crouched by his side. The Sith managed to prop himself up enough to whisper something in the Republic soldier's ear, and, try as she might, Andra could not make out the words over the noise of the alarm. She did, however, feel quite clearly the shock and disbelief radiating from Carth in the Force as well as hear Saul's weak laugh. "The look on your face… even better than I expected. Remember my dying words. Remember them… whenever… whenever you look at her." With that, he collapsed to the floor and breathed his last.

Carth stood as still as a statue, staring at the corpse of the man he'd once thought so highly of. "He's gone. He said… it can't be true, can it? No, no, it can't be! Damn you, Saul! Damn you!" He kicked viciously at the body lying in front of him. "May you rot in all the hells there ever were!"

"What did he say, Carth?" Andra reached up to lay a comforting hand on his shoulder, but he shrugged it off angrily, looking from her to Bastila as if he'd never seen either of them before in his life. The gesture and the glare were like a vibroblade twisted in Andra's heart. _He hasn't pushed me away like that since… not since right after Taris. And I've never seen him give me such an angry look, even then. _An icy knot of fear twisted in her gut. _What did Saul tell him about me?_

"Bastila, it _is_ true, isn't it? And you knew; you must have known. You and the whole damn Jedi Council knew all along that she's… she's…"

Bastila looked up from where she was working feverishly at one of the consoles to clear the way for their escape. "It's not what you think. We had no other choice. Please, you don't understand…"

"You think you can make me understand? I should put you and your precious Masters up on charges of high treason!"

With every word, Andra's sense of impending disaster grew, until it was so strong as to nearly choke her. "What are you two talking about?"

"Please, there's no time. Malak is coming; this isn't the place. Please, Carth," Bastila begged. "I'm asking you to trust me for just a little longer."

"I've had enough of trusting," he muttered darkly. "The second we're safe on the _Ebon Hawk_, I want answers.

"Of course," the Padawan agreed, executing a final keystroke before she stepped away from the console. "As soon as we're off this ship, I'll explain everything. To both of you, I promise. But for now, we need to—" She barely managed to bring her lightsaber up in time to deflect a shot from the Sith trooper that had appeared in the doorway. Several more came up behind.

"Run!" Andra shouted, suiting action to words. The two Jedi led the way, using their weapons to ensure no blaster bolts got through to harm their soldier companion. They did not slow the pace of their flight to battle any of the attackers, but whenever possible they did attempt to reduce the number of enemies facing them. Still, by the time they reached the turbolift, they were outnumbered at least eight to one. The older woman sliced her blade through the control panel on the outside of the lift, only just managing to leap inside ahead of the closing doors. "That should hold them for a while," she panted. Carth had already hit the button for the hangar level. The whole way down, she could sense his baleful glare boring into the back of her skull. Even worse, when she reached out to sense his emotions in the Force, he was as tightly shut to her as he had been before her Jedi training. The walls and distrust that had taken her months to break through in an instant were back up stronger than ever, and the thought made her want to break into tears again. _What happened? How could everything be so perfect one minute and so completely wrong the next?_

Down below, they had the advantage of being able to follow in the wake of destruction their other companions had left on the way to the ship, but there was still the occasional trooper to deal with. Finally, only one hallway stood between them and freedom… but the hallway was blocked by a tall man in a red jumpsuit, wearing a black cloak. Dark purple tattoos marked his bald head, and a lightsaber was displayed prominently at his belt.

"Darth Malak," Bastila greeted him icily.

"Down you go," Carth shouted, letting off a volley of blaster bolts. Before he had even pulled the trigger, however, the Sith Lord had his lightsaber up to block the shots. The soldier had to dive to the ground to avoid being burned by his own weapons' fire, and even then, one of the bolts grazed his right thigh. He grunted quietly in pain and the Sith cackled.

"I hope you weren't thinking of leaving so soon, my Republic friends. I've spent far too much energy hunting you down to let you get away from me now. Besides," he added, his gaze flickering over Andra's form, "I had to see for myself if it was true. Even now I can hardly believe my eyes. Tell me, why did the Jedi spare you? Is it vengeance you seek at this reunion?"

"What do you mean, 'reunion'?"

"What! You mean you don't know?" His words were punctuated by the same malicious laughter he had previously directed at Carth. "All this time and you still haven't figured it out?"

"No," Andra almost shouted. "And it's really starting to get on my nerves, everybody acting like they know something about me I don't. So will one of you just tell me plainly what this is about?"

The Dark Lord's expression seemed surprised, at least as far as it was possible to tell when the bottom half of his jaw had been replaced by a metal plate. "But surely some of what you once were must have surfaced by now? Even the combined power of the Jedi Council couldn't keep your true identity buried forever, could it?"

Suddenly all the pieces began to fall into place, and fragments of conversations from the past three months flashed through her mind.

"_Are you certain Revan is truly dead? What if we undertake to train this one and the Dark Lord should return?"_

"_What greater weapon is there to turn an enemy to your cause? To use their own knowledge against them?"_

"_They say the Force can do terrible things to a mind. It can wipe away your memories and destroy your very identity."_

"_You must match the pattern in memory. _Your _memory."_

Then she was no longer aware of being in the hangar bay of the Leviathan. She was on a strange world standing knee deep in an ocean. One hand held an ignited lightsaber, different in color and design from the one she currently wielded, the other held a Mandalorian mask, and both were shaking with fury.

"_They were beaten! You didn't have to do it! One of you knew, but you didn't listen! I don't know your name, but I take up your cause. I will not remove your mask until there is justice. Until the Mandalorians have been defeated once and for all. So swears… Revan!"_ And the last thing she saw reflected in the water before fastening the mask was her own face staring back up at her.

As abruptly as the vision had come, it departed, and the entire world seemed to spin around her. Without remembering how she got there, she found herself on her knees, and from where she had collapsed on the floor, her eyes sought out Carth's. The intensity of his glare had not slackened any and with the entirety of her being still reeling from the revelation, the reason why exploded into her mind with the force of a supernova. She bent over double, retching, and only the fact that their capture had prevented her from eating any lunch kept her from losing it all over the _Leviathan's_ deck. _Oh Force, Telos!_

"No!" she breathed. She wanted to gouge her eyes out, slice off her ears, cut herself off from the Force forever. Anything to keep from having to see the accusation in his chocolate-brown eyes and hear it in that slightly raspy tenor voice, but even if she cut herself off from all sensory perception, the knowledge was still indelibly burned in her mind. Billions dead, an entire planet's ecosystem destroyed, and all that blood was ultimately on her hands. He would never forgive her that as long as he lived. But it didn't much matter; she would never forgive herself. No, simply blinding, deafening, and silencing herself to the Force was nowhere near enough. What she really wanted to do was stab her lightsaber through her own heart, but death was far too easy an escape for Revan, former Dark Lord of the Sith. "It can't be true." She desperately wanted it not to be.

"It is," both Malak and Bastila answered in unison.

"But how is that possible?" Andra shoved her emotions behind iron-hard walls and climbed to her feet. _I may want to die, and I may be about to die whether I want to or not, but I will not kneel to him._

"You do not yet remember, Revan?" He threw the name at her like a taunt. "The Jedi set a trap. They lured us into battle against a small Republic fleet, and during the attack, a team of Jedi Knights boarded your ship…"

Comprehension slowly dawned on her face. "Led by Bastila. And then just as they reached the bridge, your ships fired on mine. I saw it in a vision… not a vision, a memory." She struggled to wrap her mind around that concept. "But then where do the other memories I have come from?"

"When Malak's ship fired on yours, you were badly injured, but Revan—you—did not die as I led you to believe. I used the Force to preserve the flicker of life still left in your body. That is where our bond comes from," Bastila supplied.

Andra nodded, her mind too numb from everything she had been through in the past few hours to feel anything but weary acceptance. "I never did believe you when you said you didn't know how that happened. But you still haven't answered my question."

"Right." She lowered her eyes in apology. "I was able to preserve your body, but your mind was destroyed. I brought you to the Jedi Council, who were able to heal the damage to your body and mind."

"Even now, she continues to lie to you, Revan," Malak advised. "The Jedi Council didn't restore your mind. They programmed you with new memories, a new identity loyal to the Republic. They wanted to make you their slave."

_You think I can't see that you're trying just as hard to manipulate me as they were? _But she knew that he was right about the memories, at least. "You've been lying to me—to all of us—right from the start, Bastila, and even when I find out the truth, you still can't be straight with me."

"I argued we should tell you the truth, but the Council forbade it. They were afraid you would return to the dark side if you knew," the younger woman explained.

Malak laughed scornfully. "You mean they were afraid she might refuse to be their pawn. But now you _do _know the truth. The Council has failed; the will of a Sith Lord is not so easily manipulated."

Andra found herself caught in a whirlwind of competing thoughts and emotions. _I don't think there's a crime in the law books that adequately describes what the Council did, completely erasing a person's memory and creating a new one for the sole purpose of acquiring intelligence about the enemy. But I'd have to be a fool to think Malak doesn't have his own ulterior motives here._ "You and I will talk later, Bastila." Her expression promised that the conversation would be less than pleasant. "As for you, Malak, I don't know what you expected but I am not going to just surrender to you." Her dark blue blade sprung to life.

"So be it. We shall finish this alone in the ancient Sith tradition: master versus apprentice, as it was meant to be." He extended his hand and, as had happened during the battle with Juhani on Dantooine, Bastila and Carth were immobilized. With a slight shift, he turned the gesture into the opening stance of Shien, the fifth of the six common styles of lightsaber combat taught among the Jedi. Her expression grim, Andra stepped into a Soresu ready stance. Then the battle began. She reached deeply into the Force, setting aside for the moment her fear and anger and pain. _Dark Lord of the Sith he may be, and a highly skilled duelist, but he's just as mortal as any other opponent I have fought. _Andra held her ground through attack and counterattack, thrust, parry, and slash, trusting the Force to guide her defense as she tried to maneuver the battle around so that Malak no longer stood between her and the ship that was her only hope of escape. Instead, she succeeded in pinning him against the door which led to the _Ebon Hawk_, but it was a short-lived victory. He shoved her away with the Force, and in the couple seconds it took her to get back on her feet, slipped through the door. The Jedi charged forward, but found the door locked. Three quick cuts of her lightsaber later, however, she had an opening just large enough for her to pass through. Malak was waiting for her at the next intersection of hallways, and with a powerful overhead blow meant to split his Jedi opponent from shoulder to opposite hip, the battle began again. It proceeded in much the same manner as before: the Sith Lord unleashing all his power and fury in the form of broad, two-handed strokes while his former master deflected them using the minimum amount of effort necessary, still hoping and watching for the opening she would need in order to make a break for her ship. _Not that I have much hope that'll ever happen… he's good._ She hoped that her opponent was tiring, but she was as well from the strength she had to expend to stop the Sith Lord's crushing blows. It was inevitable that one or the other of them would make a mistake eventually, and the moment came when Malak once again shoved Andra away using the Force, and she was just half a second too late in regaining her feet. The Sith had his scarlet lightsaber at her throat before she could get herself in a position to block it.

"A small part of me always regretted betraying you from afar. I knew that there would be some who would whisper that I acted out of fear, that I did not face you directly because I was uncertain which of us would prove the stronger. Now there can be no possible doubt, and my claim to the Sith throne will be unquestioned. My triumph is at last complete."

"Not yet, Malak." Bastila stood in one of the side passages and, with a practiced swing of the arm, she sent her golden lightsaber spinning through the air in his direction.

"No, Bastila!" cried Carth's voice from the other side passage. "He's too strong!" In the split second it took the Sith Lord to block the attack, Andra managed to regain her feet. Caught between facing an opponent who was fully on her guard and one who was at least temporarily weaponless, he chose the latter. The older woman made to go to her companion's defense, but before she could do so, the younger woman had used the Force to close and seal the door between them.

"No!" Carth screamed, his hands extended helplessly in Bastila's direction. Andra raised her blade to cut through the door, but Carth's hand on her arm stopped her.

"No, we need to get out of here. Now. Bastila sacrificed herself for us… for you…" he spat the last word in a tone of deepest contempt. Her stomach twisted painfully and her heart felt like a giant fist had clenched itself around it. "And I'll be damned if I'm going to let her sacrifice be in vain. Now, get moving, soldier!"

Though it had been months since the padawan had considered herself a soldier, the instinct to obey the orders of her superior officer was still programmed into her, and before she was fully conscious of what she was doing, she was sprinting full-tilt toward the ship, toward escape. _Toward freedom, leaving Bastila to Malak's tender mercies. Yet another person dead or suffering because of me. This has to end. Now._


	25. Chapter 25

A/N: No, I have not fallen off the edge of the universe! I fell into the Starcraft series, which I started playing around the time I published Ch. 24, and it has been a challenge to lure my muse back from there. I am back now, though, and as determined to see this series through to the end as I was when I started. My apologies for leaving off in the middle of the most exciting part of the whole game!

* * *

The others had the ship prepped for takeoff, so all Carth had to do was key in the repulsorlifts and throttle up the engines and the ship was rocketing out of the hangar at full speed. The _Leviathan's_ turbolasers attempted to track them, but Carth succeeded in evading every shot. Fighters also scrambled, but by the time they were out in space, it was far too late. With no nearby mass to prevent hyperspace entry, the _Ebon Hawk_ had long since resumed its interrupted journey toward Manaan.

Aboard the ship, the crew was all gathered in the central living room.

"Where's Bastila? What happened to her?" asked Jolee.

"We ran into Malak during our escape," Carth answered. "He would have killed us, but Bastila sacrificed herself so we could get away."

Mission gasped, her lekku twitching violently. "You mean she's… she's dead?"

Jolee shook his head. "Malak won't kill her if he has a choice; don't be foolish. He'd much rather use her battle meditation against the Republic. Turn her to the dark side and the Sith would always be victorious."

"Not to mention, he knows he can use her to get to me," Andra added, her voice dead from physical and emotional fatigue. "But the only way to help her now is to find the Star Forge. And Manaan is the last piece to that puzzle." She turned to go. _I desperately need a shower, and some rest, and some time to process everything that's happened before I have to face the others. Especially Carth._ The pilot had other plans, however; she had barely taken two steps toward the door when she felt his hand on her wrist in a far from gentle grip.

"Not so fast," he hissed. "You're going to tell the others, and you're going to do it now."

She yanked her arm free and whirled to face him. "Don't you _dare_ do that to me again." The words were soft, but nonetheless carried clearly in the suddenly silent room. The entire crew was staring at the two of them as if they had sprouted horns.

"You don't get to give me orders, _Revan,_" he snapped back, spitting the name like it was the worst sort of insult. If the eyes of the entire crew hadn't been on them already, they certainly were now. Mission's lekku froze mid-twitch.

"Revan? What… what are you talking about? Is this some kind of joke?"

"No, it's no joke," Carth answered for Andra. "The Jedi Council captured Revan and erased the Dark Lord's mind, programming in a new identity. Saul Karath told me before he died and Bastila and Malak both confirmed it."

"You're Darth Revan? This is… this is big. Do you… do you remember anything about being the Dark Lord?" Mission asked hesitantly.

The former Dark Lord settled wearily into one of the chairs. "Only a few flashes, the occasional strange dream or vision. That's it"

"Just a few flashes? Nothing more? Then I don't think there's a problem. It seems to me that if you don't remember anything about being Revan, then it doesn't matter. You are who you are now, right?"

"Of course it matters!" Carth burst out. "How do we know more memories won't come flooding back? How do we know Revan won't suddenly turn on us?" He glared down at the top of the former Dark Lord's head, which was presently bowed in grief and pain. "I've been such a fool! All this time you've been leading me on, persuading me to trust you, listening to our secrets and hearing our plans, and here you were the enemy all along!" Andra's shoulders shook with silent tears, and Jolee nodded pointedly in the direction of the door. The rest of the crew filed out silently, leaving the couple alone in the room.

The Jedi forced herself to raise her tear-streaked face to meet Carth's gaze. "I don't know what to say except I'm sorry. I wish this weren't true."

"Yeah, well, wishing doesn't help matters any. If it did, I would never have met you."

A fresh storm of weeping assailed the Padawan. "You can't mean that!"

"Oh, can't I?" the pilot retorted. "It was you… you killed my wife, you ravaged my homeworld. You destroyed my life!"

"I also saved your son from the Sith," she reminded him. "I don't even remember the rest of it."

"But you still did it, whether you remember or not. And let's not forget who was responsible for Dustil getting captured in the first place."

"Don't… don't do this to me, Carth." She sniffled loudly and reached for a tissue to blow her nose. "I didn't know. How could I have known?"

All at once, the fight seemed to leave him, and he collapsed into a chair near Andra's. "I know. It's the only reason I don't blast you where you sit." The words might have been construed as angry, but his weary tone took any sting out of them. "I just can't…" His voice broke, and Andra thought she saw tears glistening in his dark brown eyes. "Was everything a lie, then? Everything we had together?"

The Jedi shook her head. "No. That's the only thing I know for sure was…is… true."

"What do you mean by that?"

"I've just learned that everything I remember up until just before my assignment to the Endar Spire is a total lie. The only things I know are true are what has happened since then. How would you feel if tomorrow you found out that Morgana, Dustil, Telos… all of that was just a fabrication of the Jedi Council?"

"Point taken," he conceded. "As hard as it is for me to wrap my mind around this, it must be even more of a shock to you. I don't know how you even keep going."

She let out a wry snort. "Not much choice, is there? We had to get off the _Leviathan_ and now that we are, we still have a mission to complete. I started this damn war and I am going to end it, even if it costs me my life. The real question is what about us? Or is there even an 'us' anymore?"

Carth sighed heavily. "I don't know. I want to believe you when you say what we had was real, but I don't know what to believe anymore. Who's to say that your old life won't come back? All of it? Was the woman I met on Taris Revan, or someone else? Will you change into her?"

"I am _not _going to betray you," Andra vowed, the words soft but heartfelt. "I am _not _Saul."

"I want to believe you. And you've proven yourself to be a friend of the Republic by your actions so far, whoever you are. Just… give me time. We can talk later, after we've both had a chance to process things."

"Okay." Her arms ached to hold him and be held by him in comfort; more than anything she wanted to bury her head against the rock-hard muscles of his chest and cry until she could cry no more. But there was a distance in his eyes, an almost too deliberate politeness in his movements as he rose from his chair, that warned her not to even attempt such a gesture.

"Well, I guess that's it, then. We've still got one more map to find if we're going to find the Star Forge and save Bastila, so we'd better do it before it's too late." Carth headed off toward the cockpit, and Andra fled toward the women's quarters, just barely managing to seal the door behind her and collapse onto her bunk before the tears started again, great wracking sobs that shook her slender frame from head to foot. She could hear the sounds of knocking outside the room, gentle at first but growing more insistent by the minute, but even if she had been in the mood for company, she couldn't summon up the energy to move after such an emotionally and physically exhausting day. Then the door chimed and slid open and the soft patter of bare feet echoed in the now silent room, followed a few seconds later by the clink of someone setting a tray down on metal. A hand touched her shoulder, but it wasn't the one she most needed to feel just then. It was too small, too alien.

"I… uh… brought you some food. I thought you might be hungry since we didn't get any lunch."

The Padawan rolled over and pushed herself slowly into a sitting position, forcing herself to focus on the young Twi'lek standing next to her bed. "I appreciate the thought, Mission, but I really can't eat right now."

The teenager hopped up to sit next to Andra. "Yeah, I heard what Carth said to you. Uh… not that I was trying to listen or anything but this is a pretty small ship and sound tends to carry…"

"First law of holes: when you're in one, stop digging."

"Right. What I'm trying to say is not all of us agree with him. If it weren't for you, Big Z and I would never have gotten off Taris. We owe you our lives; we won't desert you now."

Though the human thought she had long since cried herself out for the day, the kind words brought a familiar stinging to her eyes. "Thank you." She let out a deep breath and the stab of pain faded back into a dull ache. "I just can't think about it right now. We have to save Bastila and stop Malak; everything else has to wait until after. If there even is an after." She had never doubted it before, but in light of the outcome of her battle with Malak, the whole mission seemed a desperation maneuver doomed to failure. The Twi'lek and the Padawan sat in silence on the bunk for several seconds until finally Andra slid to the floor and grabbed her robe, the slightest wince crossing her face as she remembered who had bought it for her. "I think I need a shower right now." Mission watched her disappear through the door before following her from the room, shaking her head resignedly.

The hot water washed the sweat and blood from her skin and soothed her sore muscles, but it couldn't fix the dull ache that had settled deep in her chest, an ache that had nothing to do with the physical trauma she had endured on the Leviathan and everything to do with the words that echoed again and again in her mind as she scrubbed herself clean. _You killed my wife, you ravaged my homeworld. You destroyed my life! _Once she had dried herself and dressed, she attempted to find a quiet place on the ship where she could hide from any more expressions of sympathy and support, finally settling on the engine room. The gentle thrumming of the hyperdrive, along with the heat it generated, soothed her enough to let the fatigue of the day send her over the edge into sleep. Even unconscious, however, she could feel the force of chocolate-brown eyes glaring at her. For the rest of her life, those eyes would be there watching, a constant reminder of who she was and what she had done.

Sometime later, she felt a pair of hands on her shoulders shaking her awake. For a moment as she hovered between sleep and waking, she felt a rush of the old joy. She knew those hands! Then she opened her eyes to meet his and her heart sank. Anyone who called brown a warm color had obviously never seen Carth Onasi when he was angry.

"Sorry to bother you but I'd like to check out the engines, see how much damage we took from the _Leviathan_. Do you mind moving?" The words were as polite as any he might have addressed to one of the other crew members, but spoken with enough of an edge to dash any hopes Andra might have had of him changing his mind overnight. She climbed to her feet and padded from the room, squeezing against the wall as much as she could to avoid brushing his shoulder on the way out. "I didn't mean… I only needed you to move away from the—"

"It's fine." With her one place of refuge on the ship momentarily occupied by the one person she most wanted to avoid, she decided to return to her bunk. At least she could count on not running into Carth by accident there. It did nothing, however, to prevent the rest of the crew from seeking her out. Not long after she returned to the women's quarters, Jolee found her there.

"Whatever you have to say, I don't want to hear it," she cut him off before he could speak.

"Look, I know you've had a big shock and Carth is being an idiot but you don't have to take that out on the rest of us."

She shook her head. "No, he's right. He's right about everything. If we survive this, the Republic is going to charge me with crimes against civilization and they would be perfectly within their rights. If we don't…" she shrugged. "Well, I won't be in a position to worry about much of anything."

The carefree, almost eager tone of her voice made the old man's eyes narrow, and he took her head in his hands, forcing her to meet his eyes. "You want that, do you?"

"What I want is to stop Malak and save Bastila."

"But you're hoping you'll die when Malak does? Is that it?" She met his gaze defiantly and did not answer. "Now, you listen to me. You've been given a second chance most people would kill to have and the right thing to do is to make the most of it. And yes, I know it hurts. I know much better than you realize just exactly what you and Carth are going through right now. I came here to try to help, but you snapped at me before I could even open my mouth."

The Padawan sunk back onto her pillow with sigh. "That's precisely why: I don't want sympathy or understanding because I don't deserve it. I don't deserve a second chance."

Jolee nodded. "Even when everyone else forgives you, you can't forgive yourself. I've been there."

"And you're trying to convince me I shouldn't waste this second chance? How hypocritical." _Besides_, she added to herself, _at least one person on this ship most certainly has not forgiven me at all._

She turned away and Jolee, recognizing the dismissal, left as quietly as he had come. Had Andra bothered to augment her senses with the Force, she might have heard the words 'stubborn fools' muttered under his breath as the door closed behind him.

Out in the hallway, Mission watched him leave, frowning sympathetically when she caught a glimpse of the expression on his face. "No luck?"

"No. She won't listen, and that worries me, but we can't force her to let us help if she doesn't want our support." He shook his head. "Two months of going through every kind of hell together and then he turns on her just when she needs him most."

"Well, we have to do something." Mission's eyes lit up. "And I know just the thing to cheer her up!" The teenager took off running toward the cargo bay, returning a minute later with one of the gizka cradled in her arms. Tiptoeing into the bedroom, she placed it on the bed next to Andra. The creature poked tentatively at the Jedi with one webbed foot, then hopped over and settled himself into the convenient hollow Andra's curled-up form left between her knees and her chest. The human sighed and rolled her eyes inwardly but found herself absentmindedly stroking the creature as she ran through a Jedi calming exercise. Eventually she succeeded in returning to sleep.

That night, she dreamt that she was on Telos. Though she had never been there or seen any pictures, she imagined Carth's hometown as a clean and orderly place with broad streets, plenty of greenery to soften the bleak harshness of the buildings, and parks where children could laugh and run and play… except that everything was in flames now, the streets were choked with rubble, and the only children in sight were lying wounded or dead on the ground or else running around calling out for their families. _And some that aren't children as well _she noted as she saw a landspeeder flying at breakneck speed toward a collapsed house marked by a slightly scorched sign displaying the number 4185. Even with his back turned, she still recognized the driver and her heart gave a painful lurch as he sprinted directly toward the ruins, shouting at the top of his lungs, "Ana!" A weak moan answered him, and he climbed toward its source, hands thrusting aside the rubble as fast as humanly possible until he uncovered the body of a human woman. From her features, Andra could tell the woman would have been remarkably beautiful under normal circumstances, but she was covered in bruises, scrapes, and burn marks, her blonde hair tangled and matted with blood.

Carth raised his comlink and spoke into it for several moments, his agitation growing by the second as he pleaded with the man on the other end. Finally he flipped it off with a vindictive snap and knelt amid the remains of what was once his house, his wife's body cradled in his arms and clearly going downhill fast.

"Don't just stand there, do something!" he screamed at the other woman, but though she fought with all her might, she could not move a single muscle. "What the hell is wrong with you? You're a Jedi, save her!"

Tears streamed down Andra's cheeks. "I wish I could, Carth. I wish I could."

She awoke to feel wetness soaking her pillow and face, brushing futilely at the drops of salty liquid that refused to stop trickling from her eyes. _It was just a dream _she tried to remind herself. _Just an aspect of my own subconscious mind yelling at me. _But she knew her former lover well enough to feel certain that had it actually been him, he would have reacted in much the same way. Sometime while she slept, the gizka had wriggled its way out of her arms and hopped away. _Even the animals are afraid of me now. Is this all I have left to look forward to for the rest of my life? _She wanted to scream to the universe at large that it wasn't her fault, that she wasn't the same person who had done those things, but such a defense seemed incredibly hollow in the face of Carth's pain, and that of billions more whose lives had been destroyed because of her fall to the dark side. Her own pain she could accept, as she had no one but herself to blame for it, but the look in his eyes continued to haunt her. Not the angry glare which he had sometimes directed at her but the weary gaze, bright with unshed tears, that she had seen for a heartbeat when he let down the wall of anger he had built to protect himself from more heartbreak. More than anything she wanted to comfort him, but she knew that this time she could not, and the ache that caused her was her only companion as she huddled in the darkness awaiting the morning.


	26. Chapter 26

A/N: Yep, I'm back! This chapter and the next, which should be making an appearance very soon once I polish it a bit, have been sitting on my hard drive in unpolished form for 2 whole years. A lot of life has happened to me in that time- classes, graduation, and 2 unsuccessful applications to medical school- but I promised myself when I first started this fic that this time I'd actually see it through to the end no matter what happened. Once I let myself get out of the habit of writing regularly, it was hard to get back in, but I've come too far and invested too much in this story not to try to finish.

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Carth Onasi had never hated the _Ebon Hawk _as much as he did now. They were still two days out from Manaan and everywhere he went on the ship, her slanted brown eyes stared back at him—if not in body, then in spirit. The cockpit? It was there they had sat the morning after their escape from Taris… there he'd first told her about Morgana. The common room? It was there they had eaten breakfast in the morning. Most days, those minutes before the rest of the crew woke up were their only time alone. The medical bay? It was there he'd spent a seemingly endless night fighting to keep her alive after she was ambushed on Korriban. Thoughts of that night inevitably called to mind the scene on the Yavin station two days later. They had been so confident then in their feelings for each other. Both of them would have sworn that only death could part them. They had been utterly wrong, but all those moments still burned in his mind like they were just last night, tainted now by three simple words, one terrible truth that had torn his world apart and spun it hard to port just when _she_ had begun to put it back together. _Andra is Revan_. The same hands that had held him and wiped away his tears as he mourned the loss of his family were the very hands that had taken them from him in the first place.

Even though a full day had passed since Saul had first told him, a part of him was still in denial. On the one hand, it explained too many things not to be true. _I was right all along. I was right about everything. _On the other hand, it was hard to imagine the Andra he knew as a ruthless Sith Lord at the head of a conquering army. _Even when she and Juhani were posing as prospective students at the Sith Academy, she still risked blowing her cover to stand up for a group of hopefuls that were being bullied by one of the students._ His treacherous mind remembered the rest of that particular encounter, however. _She threatened to kill the Sith if he didn't stop, and she would've done it, too._ With the image in his mind of her standing in front of Shaardan, hand gripping the hilt of her lightsaber and deadly rage in her eyes, it was much easier to believe she had once been the mastermind behind a war which had killed billions. And yet his mind still refused to believe that he had kissed the lips which had once convinced Saul Karath to betray the Republic he fought for. He couldn't possibly have fallen in love with such a despicable person, right? _Morgana, I'm sorry. I should have listened to my instincts when they told me this was too neat to be simple coincidence. _A few months ago, he might have taken a certain amount of satisfaction in saying, "I told you so." Now he just felt sick. His gut twisted so violently that even the sight or smell of food repulsed him. One death was far too merciful for that bastard Saul Karath. But he was just the messenger. He was the only one who had told Carth the truth when everyone else was lying. _She_ had lied to him... or had she? She hadn't known; of that much, he was certain. He could see it in her eyes when Malak finally confronted her with the truth. And yet it didn't make it any less her fault... right? He couldn't decide what he wanted to do: shoot her, shoot himself... space them both? One thing was for sure: he needed to shoot _something_. With a frustrated sigh he stood up from his bunk and went to find Canderous.

"Yeah? What do you want, Republic?" The Mandalorian's expression soured from its usual unfriendly state to one of outright hostility when he saw the pilot standing there.

"What are you getting mad at me for?"

"You accused Revan of things that aren't true. Everyone knows it was Malak who gave the order to attack Telos; you can't blame her for that. And she has done nothing so far to prove herself untrustworthy."

"Don't tell me you're taking _her _side. I figured if anyone on this ship was going to agree with me, it would be you. Have you forgotten she's the reason your people lost the Mandalorian Wars?"

"You thought that because your Republic has never understood us. We only wanted the challenge of the battle and the glory we would get from it. Win or lose, as long as the battle is worthy, honor is gained. And there was no worthier opponent than Revan. To fight by her side now is glory any Mandalorian would gladly risk their life for."

"Fine, whatever," Carth muttered. "I didn't come here to refight the Mandalorian Wars anyway. I've seen you practicing with your blaster carbine sometimes during these long hyperspace trips and I was wondering if you could help me set up something so I can get some practice."

"Looking to distract yourself from your problems with Andra?" Canderous asked with a knowing smirk. "Maybe there's more Mandalorian in you than I thought. HK-47 can probably adapt the simulator programs he's been using for me to fit your style."

The droid was only too happy to comply, and within the hour the commander was standing in the cargo hold, which had been transformed by holographic illusion into an excellent likeness of a street in Manaan's Ahto City, complete with Sith troopers firing from behind the cover of archways. He tried to lose himself in the fight, to focus all his attention on the false enemies in front of him rather than the true enemy in the women's quarters just a few meters away. _No, she's not my enemy… is she? _"I am not going to betray you," she had promised him, but how could he be certain? Only a fool would actually admit they were planning to betray someone to that person's face. True, after spending the past few months almost constantly in her company, he knew her well enough to see the absolute sincerity on her face when she had spoken… he shook his head to clear his thoughts and snapped off a hasty pair of shots at a trooper that leaned too far out of cover. But the reflective faceplate in a metallic silver helmet was too much like another mask, blood-red peering out from under the hood of a dark cloak. And the face under that mask…

"HK, could you change the parameters on the simulation so the enemies are not Sith troopers?"

"Objection: Sith are the most likely enemy we will face on Manaan. Simulated combat against them would be the most helpful—"

"Just do it, please." The simulated environment faded to once again become the cargo bay of a medium-sized freighter. After a minute of tinkering, it returned, but instead of Sith troopers, the enemies were Selkath, Manaan's native species. "Thank you, HK." Forcing his turbulent thoughts behind the walls he had become so good at building over the last two years, he sighted along the barrel of his heavy blaster for another shot.

After half an hour of such exercise, Carth's body was tired enough that he was half-certain he would fall asleep where he stood, but his turbulent thoughts still roiled just under the surface.

"Trying to avoid your problems isn't going to make things any better," a quiet voice observed.

The pilot jumped, stifling a startled oath. "How long have you been standing there, Jolee?"

"Never mind that. Can't you see your misplaced anger is killing you both?"

"I'm fine, and last I checked, A—Revan was still very much alive too, despite Malak's best efforts to change that." The small catch in his voice when he said her name betrayed him, however.

Jolee raised an eyebrow skeptically. "Sure you are; that's why you've spent the last half an hour working so hard that you look almost ready to collapse. As for _Andra_, you're right, but I didn't mean physically. Since you turned on her, it's like she died inside. She goes through the motions because she has to, because she feels responsible for everything that's happened, but her heart isn't in it."

Carth met the Jedi's gaze defiantly. "Well, she is responsible. I don't know how the rest of you manage to just forget that, but I certainly can't—" A flash of anger crossed the hermit's face and the pilot flinched and tried to look away, but the intensity of Jolee's glare kept him pinned as surely as if he were being physically restrained.

"Hate is of the dark side, Carth. Worse, you risk dragging her down with you. I don't think I need to remind you what the stakes are should she fall again." The commander shuddered eloquently in response. "That's what I thought. She needs you. I just hope you come to your senses before it's too late." The old man turned to go, for once looking every day of his 60 years and more. Carth let out a breath he hadn't realized he was holding and stayed just long enough to clean his blasters before following.

As he passed the engine room, he saw a familiar figure seated against the hyperdrive, eyes closed in meditation. It was a pose he had seen many times before, but this time there was a subtle tension in her body that marred the peaceful aura she normally exuded. A pang of guilt swept through him, together with a longing to hold her in his arms like so many times before and tell her it would be alright. But it wasn't, and the old days were gone forever. The truth was out now. Watching her there, he tried to convince himself that he hated her, tried to picture her clad in the dark red armor and cloak, face covered in her trademark Mandalorian mask. He tried to summon the righteous fury he had felt kneeling in the ruins of what once was his home holding his wife as she slowly slipped away and when he had nearly died on his own son's lightsaber blade, all because of the woman in front of him right now. But another memory intruded. Again he heard his own words sitting in the med bay in the station over Yavin. _You have a lot of courage, and the fact that you've remained strong even on Korriban is amazing, but I worry that you might just be setting yourself up for that much harder of a fall. Because there's something the Jedi aren't telling us. Something important._

"I can't protect you from everything that's going to come, but I can be there to face it with you" he murmured. Though the words were barely more than a whisper, evidently she heard him because she raised her eyes.

"Carth?"

He stood there a moment longer, torn with indecision, until the proximity warning alarm began blaring through the ship and he fled to the cockpit to prepare for their arrival at Manaan, leaving a pair of very confused light brown eyes staring after him.


End file.
